HAMANO Yasuki (Professor, The University of Tokyo Graduate School)

The common opinion held by the jurors of all divisions is that the quality of the image and networking works has drastically improved from all previous works. It is because the technology and the network of the image expression have finally matured enough to respond to an author's desire of expression.

In short, we can say that from the various technologies of expression digital technology became available to everyone. Flow, which was selected as the grand prize winner in the Animation Division after a long and heated debate, is a good example of this. Also a clear accomplishment of networking Flipbook！ is which has become the first work developed on network to win the grand prize in the Entertainment Division in the history of the Japan Media Arts Festival.

I wish to express my gratitude to the jurors and the staff of the secretariat office who corresponded to the ever-increasing number of works so sincerely. Although we currently screen all the submitted works with the multiple eyes of the jurors before entering into the final evaluation by all the jury members, the workload is reaching the limit.

The recognition of Japanese pop culture abroad keeps rising and the Japan Media Arts Festival is a valuable occasion to present the axis of assessment in Japan. This year we have received applications from as many as 43 countries throughout the world and this shows that the past effort of the jury and the staff of the secretariat office is now sufficient.