Creative Awards Briefing Report: We Answered All Your Questions #CreativeAwards2023

Launched on April 25th, the Creative Awards is one of Japan's largest submission contests. For this second edition, we have 13 editorial departments participating—far more than last time—and have significantly updated the categories and submission methods.

In this article, we provide a (mostly full) transcript of the briefing session where we answered questions and concerns regarding the Creative Awards.

▼ You can watch the archive of the stream here.

Cast
・Yui Shimura (note Director / Creative Awards Planning Lead) ・
Takeshi Hagiwara (note Director / Editor) ・
Taichi Hirano (note Director / Moderator)

Key Points of the Creative Awards' Evolution

Shimura　While the concept remains the same—to ensure that works born in the note community reach many people outside of it and serve as a place to support creators' success—this year's Creative Awards have been significantly updated from last year. I will explain the major points of evolution in three parts.

Part 1: 13 Participating Media Partners to Support Your Debut

Shimura　The number of participating media partners has more than tripled since last year, reaching 13 editorial departments. These departments have diverse styles. Some are strong in general literature, while others specialize in light literature or character-driven fiction. We also have manga apps like Palcy and Manga Mee participating.

There are also 9 categories.

13 editorial departments are each sponsoring one of the 8 categories (excluding the All Category) and will conduct the final selection for those works. They have shared messages on the special website about the kinds of works they hope to encounter at the Creative Awards, so please take a look.

── Why did you divide the categories this year?

Shimura　Last year, we didn't have specific categories and accepted submissions for all genres. We received over 16,000 entries, and looking at the breakdown, novels and essays made up a significant portion. We realized that there are many people who want to turn their novels and essays into books and make their debut.

Therefore, to create a system where those creators and publishers can meet and match more easily, we decided to divide the categories in more detail. Creators, please apply to the category that fits your work or the category that includes the editorial department or label you want to be judged by.

── Are there any restrictions on career or age for applicants?

Shimura　All categories are open to both professionals and amateurs, so those applying for an award for the first time and those already active as professional creators are very welcome. We also received a question beforehand asking, 'Can I apply if I am elderly?' and there are no age restrictions!

Part 2: Reader Awards for Popular Works

Shimura　As a new initiative this year, we have established a 'Reader Award.' We have designated the period up to July 24th—one week longer than the submission period—as the 'Reader Support Period,' and we will present the 'Reader Award' based on reader popularity during that time.

── What do you mean by reader popularity?

Shimura We make comprehensive judgments based on multiple indicators such as the number of 'likes,' comments, and completion rates. This reader popularity is also used as a reference for the first round of judging in all categories.

── Why did you create the 'Reader Support' system in the first place?

Shimura Since this is a contest held on note, an open platform, I think it is only natural to reflect reader popularity and support in the selection process. We also want readers to participate in and enjoy the Creative Awards by supporting their favorite works.

I repeat, please rest assured that we do not 'look only at the numbers and treat the content as secondary.'

Part 3: A wide range of entries, including those that don't fit into specific genres

Shimura The third feature is that we are widely accepting works that do not fit into specific genres or categories in the 'All-Category Division.' Photos, videos, audio, game scenarios, business experience stories, recipes—anything goes.

── There are no sponsors for the 'All-Category Division,' right?

Shimura All submitted works will be judged by the note management team, and we will support the subsequent success of outstanding works by introducing them to the media.

Because note supports all kinds of creative activities, we hope to eventually increase the number of divisions and add sponsors to the All-Category Division as well.

However, since this is the second time we are holding this, we decided on this format to start by achieving what we can, one step at a time. We hope to build on the success of the All-Category Division to evolve the event for the third time and beyond, so please feel free to submit your work to this division as well!

Background of the Creative Awards

── There are many submission contests held with the cooperation of publishers, not just on note but on other sites as well. As someone who served as the first editor-in-chief of Kakuyomu (a novel submission site) and has been involved in many submission contests, what do you think makes the 'Creative Awards' different from contests on other sites, Hagiwara-san?

Hagiwara I think the image people have of note varies from person to person. The fact that there are no rankings or advertisements also has an impact. In other words, nothing you post will ever be 'out of place.' On the other hand, nothing you post will ever be the 'correct answer' either.

In holding the Creative Awards, we have received cooperation from various labels and publishers, but I think it is precisely because note has no specific color that the view is clear, and the faces of the publishers are easy to see.

I think many people are unsure which division to submit to. I suggest looking at the comments from each label on the special site and submitting to the one where you think, 'I want to publish a book with this label/publisher!' I think this 'clarity of the label's identity' is what differentiates the Creative Awards from contests on other submission sites.

Q&A regarding how to apply

* The order has been changed from the actual order of the answers.

Q1. Won't re-submitting past works already posted or having many followers be an advantage in the reader selection process?

Shimura While you can re-submit works already posted on note by re-tagging them, the metrics used to gauge popularity are strictly those from the reader support period between April 25th and July 24th. Since this is not a cumulative total of past figures, we do not believe that 'past works have an advantage.' Conversely, if you are submitting a previously posted work, we would like you to put effort into reaching readers, such as by sharing it on social media again.

Furthermore, we do not look only at PVs or 'likes.' We make comprehensive judgments based on multiple indicators, including the completion rate, which serves as a reference for whether you were able to keep readers engaged until the end. Therefore, having one standout metric does not necessarily provide an advantage.

'Reader popularity' is merely a reference indicator to ensure that attractive works are properly identified. We hope that all participating creators will focus not just on the numbers, but on the desire to 'deliver their best work to readers and fans.'

Q2. I want to debut as a novelist, but my work doesn't fit into any of the four categories. What should I do?

Shimura For example, if your work contains elements of romance, you could interpret it as belonging to the Romance Novel category, or if it contains work-related elements, the Work category, and submit it that way.

However, I felt that the person who asked this question likely has a clear goal of getting published. If your goal is to publish—that is, to reach a wide audience of readers—I would also recommend taking this opportunity to challenge yourself with one of the categories or new genres we have established this time.

Q3. Which category should I submit SF or horror works to?

Shimura You can, of course, choose a category based on the elements contained in your work, or you can read the messages from each editorial department and choose to submit to a place where you feel it 'might be a good match' or where you 'want to publish a book from.'

Hagiwara Publishing labels act as a bridge between readers and authors, so each label has a sense of 'we are good at reaching these types of readers.' If you think about which label you should entrust your work to in order to reach people who are likely to read it, I don't think you'll be too lost.

Q4. Do works that mix pictures and text not qualify as 'comic essays'? In this case, should it be the Essay category?

Shimura The Comic Essay category is for works that are panel-divided, so-called 'manga.' Works that include pictures as illustrations within the text, depending on the content, would likely fall into the Essay category.

Q5. Can I submit works that utilize AI?

Shimura Works using AI such as ChatGPT can only be submitted to the All-Category section. Also, please be careful not to infringe on copyrights when using AI.

Q6. I want to submit haiku. I am also considering a haiku + essay format. How should I submit them? Also, is it okay to submit haiku that were presented at a haiku meeting or published in a newsletter?

Shimura I will leave the method of creating the article up to you, but I recommend compiling multiple works into a single article so that readers can enjoy various works together. The first step is to have readers actually read your work, so it is important to create your article with the reader in mind.

Please submit haiku + essays to the Essay category or the All-Category section. If you are aiming for publication, the Essay category is recommended.

It is perfectly fine to submit works that were presented at haiku gatherings. Works published in newsletters are also fine, provided they have not been commercially published.

Hagiwara Please check to ensure there are no special terms and conditions regarding the newsletter.

Q7. Can I submit works that have been published in doujinshi (self-published magazines)?

Hagiwara Since the rights to works published in doujinshi belong to the creator, you are welcome to submit them.

Shimura However, if it is a derivative work, please ensure that you are not infringing on any copyrights (i.e., confirm whether you have obtained permission from the copyright holder).

Q8. Is there a limit to the number of works I can submit?

Shimura No, there is not. You may submit 10 or even 20 works. However, you cannot submit a single work to multiple categories, so please select only one category when submitting.

Q9. Is it possible to change the submission category after an article has been published?

Shimura That is fine as long as it is within the submission period ending July 17.

Q10. If I edit a previously published work, will the re-edited version be the one subject to review?

Shimura Yes. The version subject to review will be the content published as of the July 17 deadline.

Q11. This is a question regarding submitting a single work divided into multiple articles. Is it correct to understand that I should include links to all subsequent pages in the first article (for example, if there are four articles in total, I should include links to the second, third, and fourth articles in the first one)?

Shimura That is correct. Please be sure to include links to all articles so that none of the work is missed during the selection process.

Q12. How can I confirm that my submission has been received?

Shimura If you check the bottom of the article you submitted and see the 'Creative Awards 2023' banner, your submission was successful.

Q13. For the All-Category division, is there a character limit per article? (The special page mentioned a maximum of about 20,000 characters; is this a strict rule?)

Shimura It's not that you'll be disqualified if you go even one character over 20,000, but since articles over 20,000 characters become difficult to read, please split your articles if they exceed that limit for the sake of your readers.

Q14. When submitting to the Novel division, I assume it's up to the participant whether to write up to 20,000 characters in one article or split it into 5,000-character segments. Is it better to split them up or keep them together?

Shimura Whether to combine a 20,000-character work into one article or split it up is left to the applicant. However, considering reader accessibility, I think it's good to think about it from perspectives like 'combine it if the work is more interesting when read all at once' or 'split it to keep readers coming back if you can create hooks every few thousand characters.'

Q15. Regarding the All-Category division, if I post audio, will embedding a service like stand.fm in the article be eligible for judging?

Shimura As long as you embed links to external services like audio or video so that they can be enjoyed, that is fine. However, please be aware that if the external service requires registration or payment to view, we will not be able to judge it.

Q16. How should I add hashtags when submitting?

Shimura If you are submitting a single work split across multiple articles, please be sure to add the '#CreativeAwards2023' hashtag to all of them. Then, add the hashtag for the division you wish to enter only to the first article.

You are free to add hashtags unrelated to the Creative Awards submission, such as '#novel' or '#illustration'.

Q17. The reader support period and the submission period overlap significantly. Is it more advantageous to start posting early within the submission period?

Shimura From the perspective of looking at cumulative figures during the reader support period, posting early can sometimes be advantageous because readers have a longer time to read it. However, it depends on the work and is a case-by-case situation.

Of course, polishing a completed work and then posting it is one way to do it, but for example, if you are writing a long-form piece, it is also a valid strategy to split it up, release short segments one after another, and engage readers by showing the polishing process as entertainment. I hope you will submit with the perspective of 'how can I make this enjoyable for the readers?'

Q18. Can I submit a work to the Creative Awards that I previously submitted to another contest but did not win?

Shimura Works submitted to other posting sites or contests are fine as long as they have not been commercialized. However, for the Illustration Story division, only new works written for this specific theme illustration can be submitted.

Hagiwara To add to that, basically, there is usually a reason why a work didn't make the cut. Of course, sometimes it's just bad luck or a mismatch with the editorial department, but there is a high probability that there are other reasons as well.

Since you can submit as many works as you like, it's fine to submit past works while you write new ones. However, if your goal is to get a book deal with a specific work, I believe the results will be better if you review it, have others read it, and polish it yourself—with the determination to essentially remake it into a new work.

This is something that comes up often when I talk to authors lately: 'Creating is like muscle training.' By repeating the process of watching and writing, you build up your muscles. Reading various books, watching movies, and meeting people—you repeat these things to train. And from a bodybuilder's perspective, publishing a work is like stepping onto the stage.

The time on stage is brief, but I think what matters is how much you have built up within yourself beforehand. Past works would be works from before you did this kind of muscle training, so if you have been facing your creative work properly up to this point, you should be better than you were back then. If you look at them again and think, 'I can still fix this part,' I think it's better to go ahead and fix it.

Q19. I'm worried about whether I can finish writing it. Can I submit an incomplete work?

Hagiwara There is no problem according to the rules. Even if it is not finished, if an editor judges it to be interesting, there is a possibility of winning an award. However, I think it is basically better to have a clear conclusion to the story. You cannot publish an unfinished book, so in the end, you have to write it to the very end. I think editors look at that skill of 'being able to finish it' as well. In that sense, I think it is better if it is complete.

However, I think manga is an exception. Rather than deciding from the beginning where a serialized manga will end, there are cases where the ending location is decided together with the editor during the serialization, so in such cases, it does not necessarily have to be completed.

Q&A regarding work creation

Q20. Hagiwara-san, you have read works by many authors as an editor, but what are the common elements of something that 'looks interesting'?

Hagiwara This is just my personal perspective. If we are talking about 'looks interesting' rather than 'is interesting,' then it is all about 'whether you can imagine it.'

People who buy books at bookstores know this well, but they don't read the whole thing before buying. They look at the cover, read the catchphrase on the obi strip, and look at the synopsis on the back. I think they judge whether to buy it based on that. So, the question is whether you can feel that it 'looks interesting' from there. To be more specific, it's 'whether you can have expectations.' A work that allows for the expectation that it 'looks interesting.'

I read project proposals for various works, such as novels and anime, and the question is whether you can have expectations at the proposal stage... whether you can imagine, 'Won't it turn out like this?' And to confirm that imagination, you have to read the content, right? You buy it because you want to confirm it. Therefore, the common element of 'looks interesting' is 'being able to have expectations.'

This 'expectation' is not just 'it looks interesting somehow,' but specifically, 'this kind of person does this, and won't this happen?' Horror is very easy to understand: 'What will happen to this child after this? They might die, or they might have a terrible experience. But I want them to do their best and survive.' These emotions become the motivation to keep reading. It is important whether you can make the reader have such concrete expectations from what is visible at the entrance, namely the title and the synopsis.

Q21. Are there any points I should keep in mind when writing a novel?

Hagiwara First, clarify what you want to write. 'Clarifying' means what kind of work you want to write. Everyone thinks about various things while writing. Like, 'Isn't this kind of thing popular right now?' But what you want to write only exists within yourself.

This is close to my own theory, but I think everyone is writing by taking the baton from daily experiences, things they have seen in the past, or works they have seen in the past, rather than creating a story from nothing. Therefore, the works you once thought were the most interesting, and the points you thought were interesting, are connected to what you want to write now. So, I think the most important thing is to have a dialogue with yourself first.

First, what do I want to write? And how to deliver what you want to write comes next. I think you should think about the form in which you will deliver it next and assemble it. We often use terms like project proposals or plots, but these are written to visualize what you have discussed with yourself. They are created to organize the flow of the story within yourself, and since it is difficult to write a draft in one go if you are not used to it, I want you to write them with the intention of them being blueprints.

Q22. What are the tips for writing a 300-character synopsis that attracts people?

Hagiwara I think of a synopsis as a 'warm-up period' for reading the main text. Reading 100,000 characters is hard work. So, you want to provide a bit of a warm-up. If there is an expectation that 'this looks like an interesting work' or 'it would be great if it were this kind of content,' I think you can slip into the actual content more easily. I want the beginning of a book to respond to that expectation.

Also, this is my personal theory, but I believe that when people read books, they are reading them aloud in their heads. That's why people often talk about 'tempo.' Long sentences are hard to read when reading aloud, right? It's the same for the text you write. Especially since a synopsis is only 300 characters, I focused on crispness when writing it. For example, using noun-ending sentences where you want to build momentum. Conversely, using more text formatting where you want the reader to focus. It's all about contrast.

This is mainly about entertainment-focused works, but people often say you should be conscious of movie trailers. Just like what I said earlier, a movie trailer is a warm-up part designed to build anticipation and get people to watch the actual movie. For example, starting with a daily scene, then suddenly cutting to an intense shot, and then having things unfold in rapid succession...

I used to write three or four patterns of a synopsis for a single book, read them aloud myself, have others read them, and then finally decide on one, so I think it's good to try writing a few patterns.

Q23. Is it better to write the ending in the synopsis?

Hagiwara I think the important perspective is whether writing the ending makes the reader think 'I want to read this,' or whether not writing the ending makes them think 'I want to read this.' Either is fine, but please make your decision with intention.

Q24. Is the synopsis something that stirs up the desire to read, like what's on the back cover of a book? Or is it a summary of the work's introduction, development, turn, and conclusion?

Hagiwara I think the intent of the question is the same as the 'should I include the ending?' one from earlier, but I think I can add a little more to the answer. A summary of the introduction, development, turn, and conclusion—which is a common pattern for public new writer awards—is, from an editor's perspective, not nearly enough on its own. A summary of the plot is useless if it isn't interesting. A synopsis is a warm-up, so it must be entertainment in its own right.

You don't have to write it in the order of introduction, development, turn, and conclusion. You have to write a synopsis that makes people want to read the main text. That's the case this time as well.

Finally

Shimura There are about two and a half months left until the July 17th deadline. This is a chance to have your work seen by many publishers and editorial departments, so I really hope you will challenge yourself with your best work.

Also, while this is a contest, I also think of it as a festival of creativity, so I would be happy if you could enjoy it first and foremost.

Hagiwara We were able to hold the Creative Awards with the cooperation of various labels this time. From the perspective of each label, it is only natural that they want to read new works by new talents and new people. Since this is open to both professionals and amateurs, I think it will be an opportunity for professionals to try genres different from their usual ones, and an opportunity for everyone to discover that they can enjoy writing things they hadn't considered before.

This applies not only to professionals but also to those aiming for their debut. Think about what you would write if you were writing for this label... multiply that by what you usually write, and if you feel excited, just go for it. I hope you will participate with that kind of feeling. I believe that will open new doors, and I look forward to reading such works.

Creative Awards Schedule

• Submission Period: April 25 (Tue) – July 17 (Mon) 23:59

• Reader Support Period: April 25 (Tue) – July 24 (Mon) 23:59

• Intermediate Results Announcement: Mid-September (tentative)

• Final Results Announcement: Late October (tentative)

Notice of Related Events

[Every Thursday from 20:00] Creative Awards RADIO

Starting May 11, representatives from the sponsoring editorial departments will appear on a rotating basis to discuss the types of works they are looking for and provide creative advice.

[5/6 (Sat) 10:00–18:00] note Offline Writing Session

For those interested in applying to the Creative Awards, we will open the note event space (Gaiemmae) for the day, providing a space where you can focus on your writing. We will also host a talk session with popular authors Fumiaki Maruto, Hōkō Tsuda, and Kairi Aotsuki, as well as a plot review session by Hagiwara.

[5/19 (Fri) 20:00–] Hotaru Shinkawa: Please teach us how to write mystery novels.

We will hold a novel-writing workshop by author Hotaru Shinkawa, who serves as a special judge for the 'Bessatsu Bungeishunju' editorial department. Applications for in-person attendance are now being accepted.

For more details, please visit the Creative Awards special website.