The 14th JASTJ Prizes were given to the winners on May 28 at the Press Center Building in Tokyo.
This year, out of 58 entries which consisted of four newspaper articles, seven movies, 42 books, two web-articles and three exhibitions, two were selected as recipients of the Grand Prize and three were chosen for the JASTJ Prize.
About 100 people attended the awarding ceremony, which was followed by nice dishes and drinks.
2019 JASTJ Prize Winners
【 JASTJ Grand Prize 】
- Exhibition of Books That Changed the World
世界を変えた書物展
The exhibition was held from September 8 to 24, 2018, led by Mr. Tomohiro Miyashita, Associate Professor of Kanazawa Institute of Technology (KIT).
Reason for awarding:
Even though its exhibition period was limited, screening committee could visit the site and highly evaluated KIT’s effort for providing an opportunity to the general public to find the first edition of books that are pioneers of new world.
- Choshi River—Seeing the Unseeable
見えないものが見える川 奇跡の清流・銚子川
The movie was jointly produced by Mr. Tetsuya Toyama of NHK and Mr. Tetsuya Mori of Daisan Seisaku, a production company.
Reason for awarding:
Their work was highly evaluated based on its sophisticated expression that allowed audience to be amazed with the fascinating nature.
【 JASTJ Prize】
- Bones in the Edo period Narrate—DNA of Giovanni B. Sidotti, a missionary, resurrects
江戸の骨は語る―甦った宣教師シドッチのDNA
The book was written by Mr. Ken-ichi Shinoda, Ph.D., Deputy General Director of National Museum of Nature and Science.
Reason for awarding:
The work illustrates how the anthropologist finally finds DNA from skeletal remains of three bodies in a residence in the Ed era. The story is written by the author with full of enthusiasm.
- 150 Years of Modern Japan: Failure of national promotion system of Science & Technology
近代日本の150年 科学技術総力戦体制の破綻
The book was written by Mr. Yoshitaka Yamamoto, a lecturer of Sundai Preparatory School.
Reason for awarding:
150 years after the Meiji Restoration had been considered as the era of growth and prosperity. The author, however, pointed out that Japan has been facing the limitation of science and technology for growth. The author denounces Japan’s science journalism as it has not been effectively functioning, in terms of criticizing the government policies.
- Coverage over Predatory Journals
ハゲタカジャーナルをめぐる報道
The series of articles was led by Mr. Shimpei Torii, The Mainichi Newspaper
Reason for awarding:
The series of articles pointed out the problems of predatory publishing, known as exploitative business model that charges expensive publication fees to authors without providing occasions for reviewing the content nor checking its quality. The series of articles became a trigger for universities and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology to tackle the problems arisen from predatory publishing.
