Kenzaburō Ōe Prize

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The Kenzaburō Ōe Prize (大江健三郎賞) is a literary award, and is sponsord by Kodansha (講談社). Established in 2006 in memory of two anniversaries: 100th anniversary of Kodansha's establishment and the 50th anniversary of the writing life of Kenzaburō Ōe （大江健三郎). The objects of this award are Japanese literary novels published in the last year, and the best work is elected by Ōe only.

Since the one of the aim of this award is the promotion of Japanese novels of the young generation which are the representations of words of the Japanese intellectuals, this prize is awarded to the best novel which contains the best 'literary words' with possibilities and results judged by Ōe.

The winner receives no cash award, but the awarded novel will be translated into other languages such as English, French and Germaney for publications.

Kenzaburō Ōe has an open conversation with the winner, which works as compensation for Ōe's criticism.

The first winner in 2007 is Yū Nagashima (長嶋有) for 'Yūko-chan no Chikamichi (夕子ちゃんの近道), The shortcut of Yūko-chan'.

[edit] List of winners

Year	Author	Japanese title	English title
2007	長嶋有 Yū Nagashima	夕子ちゃんの近道 Yūko-chan no Chikamichi	The shortcut of Yūko-chan
2008	岡田利規 Toshiki Okada	わたしたちに許された特別な時間の終わり Watashitachi ni Yurusareta Tokubetsu na Jikan no Owari	The end of the special time unrestricted to us