Film reporters from the
Yomiuri Shimbun,
Asahi Shimbun, and
Mainichi Shimbun took the lead in calling other reporters to "look back on the film industry over the past year, discuss the results, and summarize them". From the 4th (1953) to the 7th editions (1956), the award ceremony took place in Namikiza, in
Ginza, with the cooperation of
Toho producer
Sanezumi Fujimoto, its owner. The award included a statuette designed by manga artist Taizo Yokoyama. The
Newcomer Award was first given in the 2nd edition. led to the temporary suspension of the Blue Ribbon Award (as well as other awards). With many voices asking for the return of the ceremony, in particular those of the younger generation of reporters, in 1975, the awards were revived. Although the award is not acclaimed highly on an international level, the Blue Ribbon Awards have become one of the most prestigious national cinema awards in Japan, along with the and the . Winning one of these awards is considered to be a great honour. In addition, the winning films themselves have a tendency to receive high distinctions in other film festivals around the world. Some of the films nominated include
The Hidden Fortress (1958),
The Insect Woman (1963),
Vengeance Is Mine (1979),
A Scene at the Sea (1991),
Battle Royale (2000),
Spirited Away (2001),
The Twilight Samurai (2002),
Nobody Knows (2004),
Shin Godzilla (2016),
Fukushima 50 (2020), and
Godzilla Minus One (2023). The public event ceremony is hosted by the
Best Actor and
Best Actress award winners of the previous year, and has been held every year since 1975 until 2020, when it was suspended because of the
COVID-19 pandemic. It resumed in 2024 for the 66th edition, the hosts being
Chieko Baisho and
Arashi's
Kazunari Ninomiya. On January 23, 2024, the Association of Tokyo Film Journalists opened an official
X (formerly
Twitter) account for the Blue Ribbon Awards. ==Categories==