Poplar Publishing Grand Prize for Fiction (Popura-sha Shōsetsu Taishō)

02 November 2010
Poplar Publishing Grand Prize for Fiction (Popura-sha Shōsetsu Taishō)
Poplar Publishing Grand Prize for Fiction (Popura-sha Shōsetsu Taishō)
Email Address: Undisclosed
Editor/Founder: Poplar Publishing
Country: Japan
Type: Writers' Prize

Description: Established in 2005 by Poplar Publishing to provide recognition and economic support for writers of previously unpublished works of "entertainment fiction." The prize carries with it a cash award of 20 million yen, which is meant to provide aspiring novelists with the financial security that will allow them to concentrate solely on their creative work for several years. This makes the award the richest Japanese literary prize -- by far -- and although Poplar Publishing denies that it wants in this way to acquire its own stable of talented writers, it does expect the winners to produce for its exclusive use a minimum number of new novels for during the time period covered by the award. Certain details of the selection process remain hazy, as do the conditions imposed on the winners; but the response to the first competition, the results of which were announced in June 2006, was such that the number of applicants for other major literary awards for new writers seems to have fallen by as much as 20 percent. Although the stated purpose is to foster new talent, apparently no one is excluded from entering. The novel submitted must be previously unpublished, between 200 and 800 manuscript pages in length, and cannot have been submitted for consideration for any other literary award.

Read the news on the 2010 winner here.

(Directory entry)
  • The Annual Ishar Singh Poetry Contest (and other competitions)
    The Annual Ishar Singh Poetry Contest (Canada)Presented by the Eden Mills Writers’ Festival and The Bookshelf, the Ishar Singh Poetry Contest is open to students…
  • Call for Entries: Book Moby's Poet Three Contest (Thailand)
    Deadline: 17 March 2013 Poet-Three หรือ “บทกวีสามบรรทัด” เป็นการเขียนบทกวีสั้นๆ แบ่งเป็น 3 บรรทัด…
  • TABOAN: The Philippine Writers Festival 2011 Opens February 10th
    Dates: 10 - 12 February 2011First organized in 2009, the Taboan International Writers Festival is an annual gathering of writers from the Philippines and other…
Related Opportunities:
Ranked: 500 highest-paying publications for freelance writers
The Freelance 500 Report (2015 Edition, 138 pages) profiles the highest-paying markets, ranked to help you decide which publication to query first. The info and links in this report are current. Details here.