[2] It is sponsored by the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Literature, and is awarded in January and July to the best serious literary story published in a newspaper or magazine by a new or rising author.

Occasionally, when consensus cannot be reached between judges over disputes about the winning story or the quality of work for that half year, no prize is awarded.

[5] The prize went to both Risa Wataya, 19, for her novel I Want to Kick You in the Back (蹴りたい背中, Keritai Senaka) and to Hitomi Kanehara, 20, for her debut novel Snakes and Earrings (蛇にピアス, Hebi ni Piasu).

[7][8] In 2018, a similar controversy occurred when the candidate novel Utsukushii Kao by Yuko Hojo was found to have reused text from its nonfiction source material without attribution, but the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Literature did not remove the book from the candidate list.

[9] Bungeishunjū maintains an official archive of current and past winners on behalf of the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Literature.