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 one of the aims 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 German 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'.
| 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 |
| 2009 | 安藤礼二 Reiji Ando |
光の曼荼羅 日本文学論 Hikari no Mandara, Nihon Bungaku Ron |
A Mandala of light, On Japanese literature |
| 2010 | 中村文則 Huminori Nakamura |
掏摸 Suri |
Pickpocket |
The statement of the Kenzaburō Ōe award (in Japanese) http://www.kodansha.co.jp/kaigai/ooe/index.html