Tough screening process because of the record-setting number of entries and high quality of the works
As the Japan Media Arts Festival concentrates on new categories of art and the encouragement of new ideas, the entries are independently and individually evaluated. Furthermore, since the festival targets a wide range of works, applications are called for openly and not restricted to only those recommended. As the festival's high standard for award-winning works becomes increasingly well known, our fear that the number of applicants would decline has grown; however, both the number of entries from abroad and the total number of applicants has risen over the last few years, surpassing 2,000 this year. Here, I would like to thank all the people who have applied. We are looking forward to receiving more of your entries in the future.
However, as the number of applications grows, so too does the time and effort involved in the judging process. As a result, the responsibility of the jury members increases every year. We are deeply grateful to those who have given their time to fulfill this role. It was the general impression of the jury members for all divisions that there were many excellent entries this year; I was even told by some jury members that they found the screening of so many laudable works to be enjoyable. On the other hand, because the overall standard of entries was so high, it took a long time and much debate to reach the final decisions. On occasion, the jury members were even heard to passionately appeal on behalf of particular works; these were some of the difficulties that attended the selection of the award-winners. A number of excellent entries that were not selected for prizes are being exhibited as Recommended Works. We hope that visitors can perceive the high quality of those for themselves.
With the beginning of a second decade, the Japan Media Arts Festival has entered a new phase. We intend to endeavor to make a greater contribution to the promotion of media arts through this prize giving project.