Imagine Little Tokyo Short Story Contest Winners to be honored at Public Reception on April 19
Actors to Present Dramatic Readings of Three Winning Stories
Readers: from left, Mike Hagiwara, Akiko Katagiri and Kurt Ikeda
The Little Tokyo Historical Society will honor the winners for the fifth annual Imagine Little Tokyo Short Story Contest at a public reception on Thursday, April 19, from 6 to 8 PM at the Union Church of Los Angeles, 401 E. Third St., in Little Tokyo.
The contest included adult, youth and Japanese-language categories.
At the reception, performers Kurt Ikeda and Mike Hagiwara will present dramatic readings of the English-language winners’ work, while actress Akiko Katagiri will read the winning Japanese-language short story.
All winners will be awarded $500 and will have their short story published in The Rafu Shimpo and Discover Nikkei website.
“We have been so impressed with this year’s submissions,” said Bill Watanabe, head of the Imagine Little Tokyo committee.
“One of the notable stories was written by a boy who is eleven years old.”
The following served as final judges: adult English-language, Dan Kwong, Irene Simonian, and Sharon Yamato; youth, Sarah Kuhn, Carrie Morita, and Stan Yogi; and Japanese-language, Shige Higashi, Tomomi Kamemaru, and Tatsuya Kawashima.
The reception is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.
Here’s the list of winners, according to category:
English-Language, Adult --
Winner: James Toma, “Life at the Budokan”
Honorable Mention: Jeff Tanaka, “The Legend of Tsutomu and the Great Earthquake 2025”
Enlish-Language, Youth --
Winner: Madeline Parga, “Remembering”
Honorable Mention: Austen Lock, “The Path to Forgiveness”
Japanese-Language, Adult --
Winner: Akira Tsurukame, “Kiju no Tenarai”
Honorable Mention: Atsuko Miyake, “Kagawa Bunichi Story”
