We are pleased to announce the winner of the Second Annual CEPEX Japan Studies Award. We were impressed by the variety and quality of the numerous submissions we received. After careful consideration, we narrowed down the applicants to three finalists: Tracy Kline, Lissett Medrano and Megan Pfeifle. Our selection criteria for this year’s winner took into account the clarity and quality of the writing as well as the answers to the questions on the CEPEX submission form.
After careful deliberation, we are delighted to announce that this year’s winner and recipient of the 2011 CEPEX Japan Studies Award is Megan Pfeifle. Her project, “Visual Kei: A Universal Subculture” examined Japan’s underground “glam rock” scene. As the 2011 CEPEX JSA winner, Megan will participate in a two-week internship in Washington, D.C. followed by a week-long trip to Japan to further her study of Japanese language, culture, and U.S.-Japan relations. The trip to Japan is made possible by the generous support of All Nippon Airways (ANA).
The 2011 runners up are Tracy Kline and Lissett Medrano. Tracy wrote about the art and taboo of tattoos in Japan and Lissett discussed the history and controversy surrounding Japanese whaling. Congratulations Tracy and Lissett on being selected as finalists and on writing engaging and informative papers.
Given the strong interest in this year’s Japan Studies Award, CEPEX is pleased to announce that we will be holding this contest again next year. We look forward to evaluating submissions next spring.
Congratulations again to Megan Pfeifle and the other wonderful submissions for the 2011 CEPEX Japan Studies Award!
Justin Manger, CEPEX Co-Chairman & COO, Tokyo Office
Nikki Lindsay, CEPEX Co-Director, Washington, D.C. Office
Christy Busch, CEPEX Co- Director, Washington, D.C. Office
For more information on our sponsors, please visit http://www.sojitz-zaidan.or.jp/ and http://www.ana.co.jp/wws/us/e/wws_common/about_ana/.
