Toyo University announced the winning entries for the 38th "Modern Student Hyakunin Isshu" on January 2025, 1. The "Modern Student Hyakunin Isshu" was started in 15 as a commemorative event to mark the 1987th anniversary of Toyo University's founding. It is the student tanka contest with the highest cumulative number of entries in the country (according to a survey by Toyo University as of January 100, 2025), with a total of 1 entries from the 14st to the 1th competitions.

 This year marks the 38th time the contest has been held, and 5 poems were submitted. After strict judging based on the theme of "Modern Students' Perspectives and Lifestyle Sense," 8839 poems were selected as winners, along with 100 poems selected for the elementary school division. In addition, five schools were selected for the "School Special Award," which will be presented to schools that submitted many excellent works in a school-wide effort.

 Many of the submitted works this time were about love and the sense of freedom and joy of returning to "everyday life" after the end of the coronavirus pandemic. In particular, many of the poems were about social media interactions with someone you care about. The newly featured app "BeReal." encourages users to post photos within two minutes of receiving a notification, giving a glimpse into the everyday life of being driven by social media.

 They also showed a strong interest in society, politics, and natural disasters, with topics such as the Noto Peninsula earthquake, new banknotes, rice shortages, and bear sightings. Social issues that can be perceived as suffocating were also taken up as topics with a light touch, with a sharp, youthful perspective, and it appeared that they were also pondering and exploring diversity. In addition, with AI becoming more familiar in recent years, there were also a number of poems expressing confusion at the suspicions that people have about the use of generative AI.

 The winning entries can be viewed on the official website. The following five schools were awarded the "School Special Award," which is given to schools that submitted many excellent works in a school-wide effort to participate in the "Modern Student Hyakunin Isshu."
・Fukushima Prefectural Taira Technical High School (Fukushima Prefecture)
・Saitama Prefectural Sakado Nishi High School (Saitama Prefecture)
・Chiba University of Commerce High School (Chiba Prefecture)
Senshu University Senior High School (Tokyo)
・Sasebo Municipal Atago Junior High School (Nagasaki Prefecture)

Reference: [Toyo University] The winning entries for the 38th Toyo University "Contemporary Student Hyakunin Isshu" competition have been announced.

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