BEIJING, April 23, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — On April 15, 2025, the eighth Blancpain – Imaginist Literary Prize was officially launched. From now until May 15, the organizing committee will accept submissions from publishers, publishing companies or authors themselves. The final winners will be announced at the award ceremony in October. The young writer who wins the first prize will receive a bonus of 300,000 yuan. The finalists will receive the Young Friend of Blancpain award, a certificate for the finalist’s work, and a bonus of 20,000 yuan to support their creative efforts and to encourage young writers to continue their work.
The Literary Prize is an impartial, authoritative and professional award in the field of Chinese literature that aims to discover and encourage outstanding young writers under the age of 45. The co-sponsors, Blancpain and the Imaginist, continue on their quest to convey a simple but meaningful message to the public: “Reading makes time more valuable.”
As every year, the 2025 Blancpain-Imaginist Literary Prize has brought together a new team to serve as the members of jury. By doing so, the prize maintains the diversity and high caliber of the judging team by assembling many important and iconic figures in the field of Chinese literature and culture. This year’s jury lineup brings together Huang Ziping, Li Zishu, Lu Qingyi, Shi Zhanjun and Sun Ganlu (in alphabetical order).
This Year’s Theme: Time’s Eternal Forking Paths
This year’s theme draws inspiration from Jorge Luis Borges’ seminal short story The Garden of Forking Paths, in which the character Dr. Albert reflects:
“He believed in an infinite series of times, in a dizzily growing, ever spreading network of diverging, converging and parallel times. This web of time – the strands of which approach one another, bifurcate, intersect or ignore each other through the centuries – embraces every possibility. We do not exist in most of them. In some you exist and not I, while in others I do, and you do not, and in yet others both of us exist.”
Beyond the facade of linear history, the textured layers of marginalized narratives endure. For centuries, writers have captured these alternate timelines—chronicling humanity’s resistance to monolithic historical arcs. This remains literature’s vital mission: to preserve what dominant structures seek to erase.
This mission highlights a troubling paradox in our present age. The internet, celebrated as a network of infinite connections, often traps us in echo chambers. In this era of curated realities, we must ask: Can we still hear dissenting voices? Embrace human contradictions? Distinguish sincerity from noise? Amid the din of history, can we discern time’s subtle threads—those obscured truths found in overlooked voices—and regain our bearings?
In a world overwhelmed by noise, you are what you choose — that is time’s hard truth.
Let this serve as a reminder to young writers: In a world demanding constant vigilance, the safest refuge from fear lies in the literary worlds you build. Through your craft, you disrupt the illusion of time as a single line, inviting us to unravel the knots of our constrained existence and confront truths too essential to evade. Within these pages we turn together, “You and I both exist”.
Panelists of the Blancpain-Imaginist Literary Prize 2025
Huang Ziping, Professor Emeritus at Hong Kong Baptist University and former Professor at Peking University Department of Chinese Language and Literature. In 1985, in concert with Chen Pingyuan and Qian Liqun, he helped define the theoretical framework of ‘Twentieth-Century Chinese Literature’. He has taught at Hong Kong Baptist University Department of Chinese Language and Literature for many years. His major publications include The Elf of the Pensive Old Tree, Narratives in the Chalked Circle, and Text and Its Discontents.
Li Zishu, Malaysian-Chinese writer. Her works include the novels The Age of Goodbyes and Worldly Land, the collection of short stories Ye Pusa, flash fiction collection Yu Sheng (The Rest of Life), and the essay collection Zan Ting Jian (Pause Button).
Lu Qingyi, director, photographer, and editor. His representative work Four Springs won Best Documentary at the 12th FIRST International Film Festival in 2018 and was nominated for Best Documentary and Best Editing at the 55th Golden Horse Awards. He published a book of the same name in 2019.
Shi Zhanjun, professor, editor, and critic. Former editor-in-chief of People’s Literature magazine. He has edited multilingual foreign editions of People’s Literature, New Voices from China Series, Compilation of Research Materials on Contemporary Chinese Literature, This Generation: Cross-Strait Young Writers Series, and Criticism Volume of the New Century Chinese Literature Series. His works include Handwritten Notes on the Eve of the Century, Love and Regret, and The Charm of Living Literature.
Sun Ganlu, writer. His publications include the novels A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains, Breathing, and Time Doll: Chronology of Sun Ganlu’s Short Stories, essay collections I Heard the Voice of the Suburbs Again and Two Sides of Time Coin, the interview collection Folded Time, and documentary This Place is That Place.
About the Blancpain-Imaginist Literary Prize
The Blancpain-Imaginist Literary Prize, co-founded by the prestigious Swiss watchmaker Blancpain and China’s foremost publishing brand Imaginist, is the first accolade to be jointly established by a commercial brand and a publishing house, with the goal of identifying and supporting talented young writers under 45. Since its inception, the Literary Prize has upheld the principles of impartiality, authority, and professionalism, steadfastly maintaining these standards as its cornerstone.
Engagement of the members of the latest generation just entering adulthood is always a key indicator that determines the future of the world of literature. In the field of literary creation, talented young authors are always seeking an opportunity, while publishing platforms are looking for potential authors, and, at the same time, aim to attract more attention and garner more engagement. Many contemporary classical authors were discovered and recognized in their youth, as literary awards specifically designated for up-and-coming authors were available to them. For example, Naipaul, Coetzee and Kazuo Ishiguro all won the Man Booker Prize in their youth and went on to earn the Nobel Prize in Literature at a later stage in their writing careers. Renowned Japanese authors, among them, Shusaku Endo, Kenzaburo Oe and Ryu Murakami, were each recipient of the Akutagawa Prize in their youth. In today’s world, literary creation is a lonely and long road for young authors. The literary prize is designed to create a future that gives authors the space to focus on the creation of their works just as calligraphers are given the space and time to practice their craft.
Imaginist, the most influential publisher in China, has been dedicated to discovering the best authors who write in Chinese, offering an opportunity for thoughtful words to be published, while imagining another possibility for books. Works by Mu Xin, Kenneth Pai Hsien-yung, among others, have become even more valuable with the passage of time, nourishing the emotional life for generations of readers. Imaginist has, for a long time, been focused on publishing both the literary classics alongside the works of some of the most dynamic and thoughtful young authors who care about the human condition through the diverse collection of works that they have created with their open-minded insights. There’s always great literature out there to be discovered, and the best of it always pushes the boundaries and explores new horizons. That’s the core idea behind what Imaginist strives for in literature.
Bearing the identity mark of Manufacture de Haute Horlogerie (MDHH), Blancpain is a truly luxury watchmaking brand. For Blancpain, a creator of classic timepieces, watchmaking is as much a result of enduring love as writing. Since its establishment in 1735, Blancpain has ushered in the age of branded watchmaking. Over the past 290 years, navigating the ever-changing tides of time and numerous historical junctures, Blancpain has steadfastly upheld its brand philosophy of solely crafting mechanical watches and maintaining unwavering quality standards, considering MDHH as its eternal passion. This devotion resonates deeply with authors’ dedication to literature and their pursuit of creating classic works, with a shared purpose. Moving forward, Blancpain sees literature as an extension of time – this is Blancpain’s take on literature.
Call for Entries
Requirements:
Entries must be in Simplified Chinese, published as a standalone volume between 1 May 2024 and 30 April 2025, exclusively in mainland China. All novels or collections written in Chinese are eligible for submission. Collections comprising multiple works by different authors or anthologies will not be considered. Short story collections must be first-time publications and should not include stories that have appeared in other published novels by the same author.
The entry age limit is set at 45 years old or younger, calculated as of the author’s age at the time of his or her work’s initial publication. The publication date refers to the first-print date indicated on the copyright page, and reprinted editions are ineligible for this award.
How to Register
Entries can be submitted either by publishing entities (publishers or publishing houses) or directly by individual authors.
For publisher recommendation:
If the submission is made by a publishing entity (publisher or publishing company), the recommending unit must compile a list of the recommended works in an official letter, fill out the “Blancpain-Imaginist Literary Prize Recommendation Form,” affix the official seal (download the recommendation form here), and submit it along with five copies of the work’s sample to the Jury Office. Each unit is limited to nominating two works, and explicit consent from the author must be obtained prior to submission.
For author submission:
For self-nominations, authors must fill out the “Blancpain-Imaginist Literary Prize Recommendation Form,” sign it and attach a copy of their personal ID (download the recommendation form here), along with five copies of the work’s sample to the Jury Office. Each author is limited to submitting one work for consideration.
Please note that the submission deadline for this year’s Prize is 15 May 2025, based on the delivery date stamped by the courier or postmark.
In addition to the paper materials mentioned earlier, kindly submit the electronic version of your work in PDF format, along with the front cover and a three-dimensional book cover (excluding the waistband, JPEG file not exceeding 5MB), and the electronic “Recommendation Form” as a WORD document to the designated email address. Upon receipt, the Jury Office will confirm your submission for evaluation via email. Please note that sample books will not be returned.
The Jury Office reserves the right to disqualify any organization or person who is found to be ineligible to participate in the competition.
Receiving Address
Address: Blancpain – Imaginist Literary Prize Jury Office, Building 26, Xinghua Dongli, Hepingli, Dongcheng District, Beijing
Postcode: 100013
Tel: 010-84255532 (ext. 8096)
Email for Submission: BLANCPAIN-IMAGINIST@imaginist.com.cn
Rules
The judging panel for this edition consists of Huang Ziping, Li Zishu, Lu Qingyi, Shi Zhanjun, and Sun Ganlu (in alphabetical order).
Submitted works will be received, organized, and numbered by the Jury Office before being forwarded to the five judges.
Judges will participate in the entire review process. Based on reading and discussing the entries, each judge will nominate works for consideration. Through discussion and voting, a shortlist will be selected. After three rounds of voting, a finalist list will be determined, ultimately leading to the selection of the winner through final voting.
- Throughout the evaluation process, the organizing committee respects the autonomy of the jury and entrusts them with the sole discretion to determine the shortlist and final award recipients.
- All jury members are required to read all the entries for the year.
- All judges will thoroughly examine the nominated works multiple times. At the shortlist evaluation meeting, they will collectively score, discuss, and vote, ultimately selecting the top five works for the shortlist.
- The jury will deliberate during the morning session of the award ceremony to determine the recipient of the year’s first prize.
Stay tuned
On 1 August, the Jury Office will unveil the longlist, compiled from the initial candidates proposed by jury members.
On 15 September, the Jury Office will announce the shortlist, determined by the five nominations made by a majority vote of the jury.
The final winner (1) will be announced at the Award Ceremony scheduled in October.
For further details on the selection criteria and the progress of the prize, you can keep track by visiting the official website of the Prize at http://www.ilixiangguo.com/literary.html.
