AWARDS

Every year, starting in 2004, the Hong Kong-based magazine Asia Weekly publishes a list of its ten favorite Chinese-language novels from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the rest of the Sinophone world. The list carries considerable weight in the publishing community. 

Established in 1989 by China Times's literary supplement, Open Book, this eponymous award is widely considered the most influential book award in Taiwan. Each year awards are given to 50 book categories, including fiction, non-fiction and children's books.

Every year, the respected literary publishing house Chiu Ko selects the best of their published works in fiction, prose, children’s literature, and other genres, and publishes them together in a special edition. From these elite works they further select one title for special recognition at a public ceremony. 

Started in 2008, the Feng Zikai Chinese Children’s Picture Book Award is held once every two years in a different part of the Sinophone community. A dedicated Executive Committee of publishing professionals chooses one prize awardee and four honorable mentions. The awardees are honored at an event that is paired with a children’s publishing symposium, and their prize money is substantial, with US$20,000 going to the primary awardee and $5,000 to the honorable mentions. The prize money makes this the most generous award in the Sinophone publishing world.

The Golden Comic Awards, first established in 2010 by Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture, recognize not only outstanding comic and manga illustrators, but also other crucial participants in the comic publishing process. Already the foremost award of its kind in Taiwan, the Golden Comic Awards include not only an awards ceremony, but also a symposium and a rights fair, which feature significant contributions by artists, publishers, and experts from all over the world.

The Golden Tripod Awards are a body of awards given annually by Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture to the year’s most impactful titles, as well as to individuals who made outstanding contributions to the publishing industry. They include twenty-one separate prizes covering a variety of categories within book, periodical, and digital publishing, and represent total prize money of approximately two hundred thousand US dollars. The prizes have been awarded every year since 1976, and are considered the highest domestic honor a Taiwanese publisher can receive.

The Hsin-Yi Children’s Literature Award is one of the oldest prize in Taiwan, recognizing the contributions of children’s book writers and illustrators since 1988. Awards are given for expertly illustration as well as for writing, and winners get the chance to be published by Hsin-Yi Publishing House. Lectures by well-known foreign illustrators and discussion roundtables accompany the annual event.

King Car Cultural & Educational Foundation have collaborated with Taiwan’s Crown Publishing to reinvent the Soji Shimada Mystery Award (also previously the Kavalan Soji Shimada Mystery Award) as the Kingcar Soji Shimada Award, given out every two years to a standout work of crime fiction written in Chinese, and judged in part by the famous Japanese crime writer Soji Shimada himself. 

Also known as the Taipei International Book Exhibition Prize, the Taipei Book Fair Award is given out during the event that bears its name to three fiction titles and three non-fiction titles. Winners are each selected from prize shortlists, which are revealed a month before the exhibition opens. First prizes come with a purse of about US$3,000.

Originally founded in 2001 by the Cultural Development Committee (the forerunner of Taiwan’s current Ministry of Culture) and currently administered by National Taiwan Museum of Literature, the Taiwan Literature Awards recognize outstanding works in several different literary genres, including fiction, prose, and poetry. It is universally recognized as one of Taiwan’s most influential literary honors, and its highest award comes with prize money totaling approximately $32,500.

UDN Grand Literary Award was first established in 1976 by one of Taiwan’s biggest newspaper, United Daily News. United Daily News has played a major role in the publishing scene. It was first called UDN Fiction Prize, but changed its name in 1994. UDN Grand Literary Award and China Time Literary Award are deemed as most important literary prizes and serve as a career-making prizes for all authors.

The Wu Zhuoliu Literary Prize, given annually to titles in fiction and poetry, was started in 1964 by the writer and magazine publisher of the same name.