F. Hilary Conroy First Book Prize
The 2nd annual F. Hilary Conroy First Book Prize will be awarded in early 2026 to an outstanding English-language book on modern Japan or Japanese history published in 2024 by a first-time author.
Prize
The winner will receive a monetary prize of $1,000 USD.
Guidelines for Submission
- Full consideration will be given to books substantially illuminating the history of modern and contemporary Japan (1868-present), as well as books exploring the historical roots of modern Japanese society and culture. Provided this condition is met, books from any academic discipline and books covering earlier eras of history are eligible.
- To be eligible, books must be a first edition with a copyright year of 2024.
- To be eligible, the book must be the first book published by the author.
- Books must be originally published in English. Translations of books originally published in other languages will not be considered.
- Reference works, exhibition catalogs, multi-authored collections of essays, textbooks, original poetry or fiction, memoirs, or autobiographies are not eligible.
- Authors need not be members of the MJHA.
- Only publishers and MJHA members may nominate a book for consideration.
- Upon receipt of a completed nomination form, nominators will be provided with addresses for prize committee members. One copy of the book must be sent to each member of the committee to insure full consideration.
- To receive full consideration books shipped to committee members must be postmarked by July 1, 2025.
Deadline
Nominations must be sent by July 1, 2025 to be eligible for the 2026 award.
Nomination Form
The same nomination form is used for both the MJHA Book Prize and the F. Hilary Conroy First Book Prize. Each book needs to be submitted only once for both prizes. All books submitted once will automatically be considered for both prizes, if eligible.
To submit a nomination, please use the form found HERE.
About the Conroy Prizes
The prizes in honor of Francis Hilary Conroy and Charlotte J. Conroy were established in 2024 thanks to a generous gift from O.B. Karp and family.
The Conroy Prizes celebrate the life and legacy of the Conroys and their dedication to Japanese Studies and cross-cultural exchange by recognizing the work and advancing the career of junior scholars working in the fields of Japanese history and Japan studies.
2025 Prize Committee
MIRIAM KINGSBERG KADIA (Chair)
University of Colorado
PAUL BARCLAY
Lafayette College
NICK KAPUR
Rutgers University
2026 F. Hilary Conroy First Book Prize Winner
Anri Yasuda
Author of Beauty Matters: Modern Japanese Literature and the Question of Aesthetics, 1890–1930 (Columbia University Press, 2024)
Beauty Matters investigates the ineffable, non-discursive qualities of socially engaged art through the Japanese novel. The book traces a genealogy of meditations on the seemingly contradictory task taken up by Japan's self-consciously modern writers: to expose unpleasant psychological and social truths while producing aesthetically pleasing compositions. In her own beautiful prose, Yasuda plumbs the writings, lives, and visual art inspiration of Natsume Sōseki, Mori Ogai, Akutagawa Ryūnosuke, and Mushanokōji Saneatsu, showing the novel as a uniquely capacious instrument for social critique and political agency in the early twentieth century.