Announcing the results of the "#ToMyFirstYearAsAWorkingProfessional" submission contest, a collaboration between Kirin and note!
For about a month and a half starting April 19th, we held a submission contest called " #ToMyFirstYearAsAWorkingProfessional " to solicit works that resonate with the hearts of new working professionals. During this period, we received an incredible 3,157 entries (4/19-6/5)! Thank you for submitting so many wonderful works.
Please see here for the list of entries on note.
As a result of the judging process, the winning entries have been decided as follows.
■ Jury Award (Saku-chan)
Sato-san / Working professional and first-year university student at 25. Trying desperately to reclaim my life #ToMyFirstYearAsAWorkingProfessional
■ Jury Award (Masahiko Katsuse)
Keita Uehara / 3 reasons why Kaneko didn't get off at Aohiradai
■ Jury Award (Charlie)
Yu Okada / That day's yakisoba and "PV=C/(r-g)"
■ Kirin Special Award
Yoko Matsushima / It was you, in your first year out of school, who taught me the "joy of work."
Dora-mee / To you in your first year as a working professional
■ General comments from each judge
■ Saku-chan
I thought it was great that "first year as a working professional" is a theme anyone can write about. Many people were writing to their past selves, and many were writing to those currently in their first year, and I was impressed by the wide variety of submissions gathered. Among them, the article by Sato-san that I chose allowed me to truly feel the painful scenes of his first year, and the message that appeared toward the end of the article, "I thought that as long as I was aiming for something, it was okay not to be anyone yet," was wonderful. When you are early in your career, many people convince themselves that "this is what I want to do," and while there are benefits to that, there is also the disadvantage of losing sight of your surroundings. That message caught me off guard as well.
■ Katsuse-san
I have served as a judge for contests several times, but what is always interesting about note contests is that they attract submissions from various genres other than columns. I felt that this contest was also quite rich in variety. The note by Keita Uehara, which I chose this time, was wonderful in that its structure is only possible because it is a web manga. The structure of unfolding scenes through vertical scrolling is something that cannot be done in a book, and I thought he really understands how to present things on the web. The story is also impeccably well-done, and above all, I got completely hooked while reading it on my commute. The final ending scene also really touched me. I wanted to be that kind of senior, too.
■ Charlie
In choosing the winning entries, I judged the depth of the content from three perspectives. The first is the "events described in the article," the second is the "thoughts regarding those events (mental imagery)," and the third is the "message you want to convey by combining the events and mental imagery." Yu Okada's article was an unexpected development that found common ground between the corporate valuation formula "PV=C/(r-g)" and being a "first-year working professional" and wrote it through to the end. It was wonderful that he used the fact that corporate value is determined by how much one grows in the future as advice to a first-year professional, saying that you don't need to worry if you can't produce value now because you can't see the value you will produce in the future. I think it's flawless.
■ Kirin Team
Thank you very much for all your submissions. We chose this theme because we wanted to gather messages that could resonate with the anxieties of new professionals. There were far more wonderful entries than we had imagined, making it extremely difficult to choose. In selecting the Kirin Special Award, our team shared a common understanding: to support new professionals and to respect them. We chose articles that would make readers feel positive after reading them. Yoko Matsushima's article was lovely, as it honestly depicted a sense of respect for those who were in their first year of work at the time. Additionally, in Doramy's article, besides the high quality of the manga, it was wonderful to feel that there are people watching when you continue to work with sincerity.
■ Announcement of the 2nd Submission Contest
Also, starting today, July 8th, Kirin Beer and note are collaborating to hold a submission contest called "#CheersToThatSummer", where we are looking for your episodes related to "that summer" (until August 31st). We welcome any format, including manga, essays, illustrations, novels, or music playlists. We look forward to your wonderful submissions!