- HAMANO Yasuki (Professor, The University of Tokyo Graduate School)

The number of applications that Japan Media Arts Festival receives every year increases abundantly, and overseas entries currently come from over 50 countries-53, specifically, this year. To screen both international and local entries equally, there has been a necessity for translations and other work, which has doubled the tasks of the secretariat office. The rapid growth is seen not only in the quantity, but also in the quality of the entries, resulting to an increase in the length of the screening sessions; it is a testament to their passion for the media arts that the jury members have been able to tolerate the excessive duties required of them in recent years. Nowadays, as the international exchange through media arts increases, the reason for Japan Media Arts Festival's existence has become more important than ever; therefore, it is crucially necessary to expand the screening structure in order to continue fulfilling the duties of selecting and introducing the art works strictly and fairly.

This year, Memorial Achievement Prize is exceptionally presented to KANADA Yoshinori who suddenly passed away at the age of 57 on July 21, 2009. We have received requests from many people in the animation industry to add KANADA to the list of Achievement Prize candidates this year -- Special Achievement Prize was established in the 7th year festival to recognize the achievements of individuals who had made a long-standing contribution over the years -- but, at that time, it was decided that it would not be awarded posthumously. However, considering the scope of KANADA's achievements, he would surely have been on Special Achievement Prize candidate list one day, had he lived till today. Moreover, there is nothing but his work to which he can bequeath his name, and he had never received any such awards in the past; there were strong requests from many animation-related people on this issue. After discussion with the executive committee and jury members, it was decided to award him Memorial Achievement Prize as a special case this year. We hope that this award will aid in memorializing KANADA's achievements throughout the future, and motivate people to once again recognize the worth of animators' works.