The Asahi Shimbun Wins Three Awards of Excellence at the 47th SND Creative Competition

To members of the press: The Asahi Shimbun Company, represented by President and CEO Katsu Tsunoda, has received three Awards of Excellence at the 47th Creative Competition hosted by the Society for News Design (SND), a U.S.-based organization that honors outstanding news design from around the world. The awards include one in the infographics category and two in the illustration category. Award page: https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASV4S3T75V4SUEFT01FM.html The infographic award went to “A Comparison of U.S. and Chinese Military Capabilities and Major Weapons,” published in the morning edition on May 24, 2025. The feature uses a comparison of military capabilities to show the reality of China’s rapid military expansion and the capacity of the United States to deter conflict. Yuki Hara, deputy editor in the Digital Editorial Division, said the work visualized the military balance in the Indo-Pacific region, which is directly tied to Japan’s security, based on the latest data. Because existing data showing the actual situation was limited, four reporters spent about a month and a half independently collecting and analyzing information from primary sources. The calculated data was then reviewed by security experts and former senior Self-Defense Forces officials, and refined to reflect reality as closely as possible, including by excluding outdated weapons that could not be used in actual combat. The presentation was also carefully designed: in addition to U.S. Indo-Pacific Command forces deployed in the region, the total strength of all U.S. forces that could respond in a contingency was expressed through color gradations, depicting the complex power balance among Japan, the United States, and China. The team also visualized “major sea lanes” to convey how a Taiwan contingency and other scenarios could affect Japan. With permission to use data from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the work mapped the potential impact on Japan’s lifelines. It was highly praised as a “definitive” graphic that even experts found convincing. In the illustration category, two works from “Reading the Times,” an opinion column series published in the digital edition and on the front page of the evening edition, received awards: “Nothing Starts Without Talking,” published online and on the evening front page on Dec. 8, 2025, and “Yokai Tell Us the Signs of Disaster: Learning from Precious Folklore,” published online and on the evening front page on Dec. 15, 2025. Akihiko Suefusa, art director in the Digital Editorial Division, said the two award-winning illustrations were created as graphics for “Reading the Times,” a column series that appears in The Asahi Shimbun’s digital edition and on the evening edition’s front page. In the series, editorial writers examine current issues by looking back at the past to interpret the present. Designers create graphics that visually capture each theme, aiming to deepen and broaden the message through the interplay of text and design. “Nothing Starts Without Talking” depicts people who continue working toward dialogue between Japan and China as they steer a “sailboat of dialogue” through rough seas. Its distinctive quality lies in the unexpected combination of a style reminiscent of ukiyo-e with a contemporary sensibility. The other award-winning work, “Yokai Tell Us the Signs of Disaster,” uses a manga-like style to portray disaster preparedness embedded in folklore about yokai across Japan, showing yokai blending into everyday scenes. Both works express social themes through the free imagination unique to illustration. In today’s society, where many elements are intricately intertwined, it is essential to think about and understand backgrounds and structures that are difficult to see from individual facts alone. Graphics, with their ability to communicate intuitively, play an important role here as well. Being recognized with Awards of Excellence on the same stage as global media such as The New York Times is highly significant, and The Asahi Shimbun intends to apply this experience to future efforts. The Society for News Design is an international organization for professionals at news organizations and visual journalists. Its Creative Competition annually honors outstanding work across a wide range of fields in print and digital media, including storytelling, infographics, illustration, social media, and product design. The 47th Creative Competition received about 4,200 entries from media organizations around the world, including both print and digital works. This marks the 13th consecutive year that The Asahi Shimbun has received an award. Other Japanese media winners included Nikkei Inc.’s English-language work “The Final Words of North Korean Soldiers Who Died in Russia,” which also received an Award of Excellence.