At the 189th Yukichi Fukuzawa Birthday Commemoration Ceremony held on Wednesday, January 10, an awards ceremony for the 48th Shinzo Koizumi Prize All-Japan High School Student Essay Contest was held, and the winners were presented with certificates by President Kohei Ito. After the commemoration ceremony, the customary social gathering was held with the winners, judges, and other related parties. It was a valuable opportunity for direct interaction between the judges and the winners, who discussed topics such as what inspired them to write their essays.
Keio University has been holding an essay contest for high school students nationwide since 1976 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the death of Dr. Shinzo Koizumi, who served as President of Keio University from 1933 to 1947 and was also an accomplished writer. The purpose of the contest is to pass on the character and achievements of Dr. Koizumi to future generations and to contribute to the improvement of young people's writing and expression skills. This time, five essay topics were set, including 'Academics × AI × Yukichi Fukuzawa,' and submissions were accepted from May to August of last year, with 247 outstanding works received from high school students across the country.
The winners are as follows. The winning essays and the judges' comments can be viewed here.
"Shinzo Koizumi Prize"
Mao Urakami (Tochigi Prefecture / First-year student at Tochigi Prefectural Utsunomiya Girls' High School)
"Runner-up"
Habiru Miyadai (Tokyo Metropolis / Second-year student at private Fujimigaoka High School)
"Honorable Mentions" (in alphabetical order)
Naoki Aoyama (Tokyo Metropolis / First-year student at private Kaijo High School)
Asa Fukui (Chiba Prefecture / Third-year student at private Ichikawa High School)
Kosei Miyata (Tokyo Metropolis / Second-year student at private Dalton Tokyo Gakuen Senior High School)
Photo: Takeshi Kishi