5th (2025) Ronnie Award and Craft Leader Award Winners Announced

This year's Ronnie Award was awarded to Riku Matsuzaki , who is working to revive the traditional technique of Kyoai, an initiative that gives us a sense of the potential for Japanese crafts to continue into the future.

The Craft Leader Award recipients were:

Yuji Asada
Shunkei Takatori
Daiki Mitsui / Ryota Ebitani
Hiroyuki Murase

Together with Matsuzaki-san and other craft leaders, JapanCraft21 will continue to work towards the revitalization of crafts.

About the 5th Japan Traditional Craft Revitalization Contest

[This Week's Craft] Attusi

Contest Rules

1. How to apply

To apply, visit the japancraft21.com website and submit the required documents according to the rules. To be eligible to win, applicants must meet all contest requirements. Incomplete documents, non-compliance with rules, or non-fulfillment of requirements may result in disqualification at the sole discretion of C21/ASJC. Applicants will be disqualified without notice to the applicant if any of the above conditions are met. Incomplete applications will be returned and the applicant will be asked to make corrections, except for applications submitted shortly before the application deadline.

2. Taxes

If required by JC21/ASJC under applicable law, entrants must submit tax-related documents to JC21/ASJC, its agent, or taxing authorities in order to be eligible to win the prize. Winners must comply with all applicable laws and submit all required documents. If a winner fails to submit required tax-related documents or violates the law, the prize (funds) may be forfeited and an alternate winner may be selected at JC21/ASJC's sole discretion.

3. Copyright

Under the agreement between JC21/ASJC and the applicant, the applicant will retain all intellectual and industrial property rights (including moral rights) in the submitted idea. As a condition of application, the applicant grants JC21/ASJC, its affiliated organizations and supporters a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, transferable, royalty-free, and non-exclusive trademark license to use, reproduce, adapt, modify, publish, distribute, publicly perform, create derivative photographic and illustration images, and publicly display the photographs and illustrations, including on the websites of JC21/ASJC and its affiliated organizations and supporters.

4. Privacy

Applicants agree that the name, address, telephone number, and email address they submit when applying will be collected and stored and used by JC21/ASJC and its affiliated organizations for the purposes of running the contest.

5. Prohibitions

Submissions must not be derogatory, offensive, threatening, defamatory or libelous to any person, country or organization, and their content must not contain any inappropriate, obscene, pornographic, profane, defamatory or discriminatory material, or promote hatred or harm against any person, country or organization.

6. Legal compliance

応募作品は、応募作品の作られた国や都道府県、市町村の著作権を含む法令に違反した内容、素材、いかなる要素を含むものであってはならない。

7. Prohibition of third-party displays and advertisements

Entries must not contain any third-party advertisements, slogans, logos, trademarks, or promotional characters of other parties (organizations) that are not in line with the objectives of the contest as set out independently by JC21/ASJC.

8. Representations, Warranties and Indemnification

By submitting to the contest, you guarantee that your submitted work is original and does not infringe on any third party's ownership rights or copyrights. If your submitted work infringes on the rights of others, it may be disqualified from the contest at the sole discretion of JC21/ASJC. If another party (organization) claims that the content of your submitted work infringes their rights, you may defend them at your own expense. If you cause damage to JC21/ASJC, you will be responsible for all legal costs incurred in defending the rights of third parties.

9. No Obligation to Purchase

No merchandise purchase is necessary to enter or win.

10. Acceptance of Terms

By applying to the JC21/ASJC contest, applicants agree to these terms and conditions.

Review process

[First round of judging]

[Second round of selection]

Applicants who pass the first screening will be sent a link to the application form for the second screening.

Applicants who pass the first round of screening will submit an application for the second round of screening via an online form.

Deadline for submission of second screening application: August 20, 2025, 17:00 Japan time

*If you do not submit the application documents for the second screening sent by email by the deadline (17:00 Japan time, August 20, 2025), your entry may be disqualified. Please note that if the JapanCraft21 Secretariat deems it necessary to confirm the details of your entry, we may contact you by phone or other means.

Certified judges will select finalists (Craft Leaders) from those who advance to the second round of judging.

The finalists (craft leaders) will be emailed and announced on the JapanCraft21 website.

Scheduled announcement date: October 10, 2025

*Please note that if we do not receive a response within 10 days of the date on which the JapanCraft21 Secretariat sent the email informing you of your winnings, your entry may be disqualified for any reason, including server malfunctions. Please be sure to contact the Secretariat if your email address changes. The JapanCraft21 Secretariat will not be held responsible for any disadvantages caused by failure to receive the email.

*If you contact us by email within 10 days of receiving the prize notification email, we will reply within 3 days. If you do not receive a reply from us within 3 days of sending your email, please send it again.

[Judging Committee]

The judging panel will be held online (Zoom).

Screening date: Wednesday, November 12, 2025 (morning) or Monday, November 17, 2025 (afternoon)

* Applicants are requested to be prepared to attend both dates.

Best Ronnie Award Announcement: Late December

[Ceremony and training]

February 19, 2026: 5th Contest Award Ceremony (Location: International House of Japan)

February 20, 2026: Training (Location: International House of Japan)

*Participation on all dates is a condition for entering the contest, unless there are unavoidable circumstances.

*JapanCraft21 will cover round-trip transportation costs to Tokyo (reserved seat fare on the Shinkansen between the nearest Shinkansen station and Tokyo (or Shinagawa) Station) and one night's accommodation.

Application Guidelines

[Application conditions]

Technique: Being a maker of traditional Japanese crafts
Creativity: Excellent design sense
Originality: Use of traditional techniques or new techniques based on tradition
Succession: Taking on new challenges and having future potential and development potential
Beauty of Use: Focusing on the production and creation of things that can be used in everyday life

[Application acceptance period]

Thursday, May 1, 2025 - Thursday, June 5, 2025

[How to apply]

Please fill in the required information in the application form at the top of the page.

*A confirmation email will be sent to the specified email address. If you do not receive it, please fill out and submit the application form again.

[Participation fee]

2,000 yen per application

Please transfer the funds via the Square link on the application form or to the bank account below.

Bank name: MUFG Bank, LTD.

Swift code/BIC code: BOTKJPJT

Branch name: Demachi Branch

Name on account: NPO JapanCraft21

Type of account: Savings

Account number: 506-0566646

Bank address: 257 Seiryucho, Imadegawa-agaru, Demachidori,

Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto, Japan

[Contest application briefing session]

You can watch the recording of the information session held on Zoom on May 26, 2025 here .

Prizes and Prizes

Best Ronnie Award

Support and funding of 5 million yen to realize the project. The 5 million yen will be paid out in stages to a purpose agreed upon by both the JapanCraft21 Secretariat and the award recipient as appropriate for the success of the winning project. Furthermore, the payment period is generally limited to three years from the date of award.

[Example of project funding]

Creating a homepage
Capital investment
Prototype production
Labor costs
Advertising sales expenses
Branding, etc.

Craft Leader Award

The finalists of the contest (including the Ronnie Award winner) will be awarded the Craft Leader Award, and support will be provided to realize their projects. A total of 5 million yen will be provided for support such as introducing their projects on the JapanCraft21 website, exhibiting their works at related events, and other support.

Past support for contest winners (Craft Leaders)