Essay Competition

The results of other years
2005	2004
2003	2002
2001	2000
1998	1996

For your information, apart from the above English language Shinto Essay Competition, ISF has been organizing also the Chinese language Shinto Essay Competition since 2000, with 5 Chinese scholars specialized in Japanese cultural studies as the jurors. Besides, the Russian language Shinto Essay Competition has started from 2004, with 5 Russian scholars specialized in Shinto studies as the jurors. The results of Chinese and Russian competitions were publicized on ISF’s website.

Those who are interested in each Chinese and/or Russian language competition please contact in respective language with sippouxp@yahoo.com.cn for the Chinese and Moscow@shinto.org for the Russian.

Result of Shinto Essay Competition 2005
Sponsored by the International Shinto Foundation
(Announced on September 2005)

Shinto Essay Competition 2005 participated by 14 contributors from 9 nationalities (2 Americans, 1 Australian, 1 British, 1 German, 1 Indian, 3 Italians, 3 Nigerians, 1 Russian and 1 Singaporean). It is our pleasure to acknowledge the increase of the entrants from various parts of the world this year. Their essays were carefully read and evaluated by 9 jurors, who are distinguished scholars in Japanese cultural studies and members of the ISF Board of Trustees. We are pleased to announce the result of their judgments as follows. In accordance with the judgment points we have decided to award the excellent and good essays by one 1st prize, one 2nd prize, one 3rd prize, and two encouraging prizes. The essays belong to and will be published by the International Shinto Foundation, Inc.

Prize Winners
First Prize (US$1,000)	Tatsuma Padoan (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy) “The Hybrid Power of the Kami Mandara ― Polythetic Classifications and Anthropological Perspectives on the Combinatory Religion of Medieval Japan”

Second Prize (US$500)	Robert Steed (University of Iowa, U.S.A.) “Miyazaki Hayao’s Mononoke Hime as an Example of Shinto Artistic Representation”

Third Prize (US$300)	Giulia Zucconi (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy) “Women’s Images in Shinto”

Encouraging Prize (US$100)	Anna Andreeva (Russian, University of Cambridge, UK) “Legendary women and the worship of Miwa”

Encouraging Prize (US$100)	Michael K. Roemer (University of Texas at Austin, USA) “An Extravagant Display of Shinto Arts”
	First, I wish to thank the committee for selecting my paper as one of the recipients of an International Shinto Foundation Essay Competition award. I am honored and delighted. It is also exciting to receive recognition for my on-going research on Kyoto’s Gion Festival. In the past decade, I have become very fond and respectful of this amazing series of events. Also, because there are very few published works in English on the topic, I am pleased to be able to widen the appreciation of this historical icon. In the future, I hope to return to Kyoto for more long-term research on the various impacts of participation in major urban festivals. In the meantime, as a Ph.D. student in Sociology at The University of Texas at Austin, I am designing a dissertation that analyzes currently available survey data on Japanese religiosity. Contemporary Shinto plays an important role in Japan, and I intend to continue exploring its various effects on Japanese society.

Submitted essays belong to and will be published
by the International Shinto Foundation,Inc.

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