Annual Shogi Awards
The Annual Shogi Awards are a number of prizes awarded yearly by the Japan Shogi Association to professional and amateur shogi players who have achieved particular success. The first Annual Shogi Awards were presented in 1974.
Winners
Below is a table of the awards given and the award winners for each year.| No. | Year | Player of the Year | Special Award | Excellent Player | Fighting Spirit | Game of the Year | Special Game of the Year | Best Winning Percentage | Most Games Won |
| 47 | 2019 | Akira Watanabe | Kazuki Kimura | Masayuki Toyoshima | Takuya Nagase | Masayuki Toyoshima vs. Kazuki Kimura | Akihito Hirose vs. Sōta Fujii | Sōta Fujii | Sōta Fujii |
| 46 | 2018 | Masayuki Toyoshima | Akira Watanabe | Akihito Hirose | Amahiko Satō vs. Yoshiharu Habu | Mana Watanabe vs. Hatsumi Ueda | Sōta Fujii | Daichi Sasaki | |
| 45 | 2017 | Yoshiharu Habu | Sōta Fujii | Tatsuya Sugai | Masayuki Toyoshima | Akira Watanabe vs. Yoshiharu Habu | Sōta Fujii | Sōta Fujii | |
| 44 | 2016 | Amahiko Satō | Hifumi Katō | Yoshiharu Habu | Toshiaki Kubo | Yasumitsu Satō vs. Kōichi Fukaura | Kana Satomi vs. Hatsumi Ueda | Shōta Chida | |
| 43 | 2015 | Yoshiharu Habu | Akira Watanabe | Amahiko Satō | Akira Watanabe vs. Amahiko Satō | Kenjirō Abe vs. Yoshiharu Habu | Shintarō Saitō | Amahiko Satō | |
| 42 | 2014 | Yoshiharu Habu | Tetsurō Itodani | Masataka Gōda | Yoshiharu Habu vs Masayuki Toyoshima | Mitsunori Makino vs Ryuuma Tonari | Tatsuya Sugai | Tatsuya Sugai | |
| 41 | 2013 | Toshiyuki Moriuchi | Yoshiharu Habu | Masataka Gōda | Yoshiharu Habu vs Taichi Nakamura | Hiroyuki Miura vs Toshiaki Kubo | Yasuaki Murayama | Yoshiharu Habu | |
| 40 | 2012 | Akira Watanabe | Yoshiharu Habu | Yoshiharu Habu | Taichi Nakamura | Yoshiharu Habu vs. Akira Watanabe | Kana Satomi vs. Hatsumi Ueda | Takuya Nagase | Habu |
| 39 | 2011 | Yoshiharu Habu | Akira Watanabe | Masataka Gōda | Akira Watanabe vs. Tadahisa Maruyama | Taichi Nakamura | |||
| 38 | 2010 | Yoshiharu Habu | Akihito Hirose | Akihito Hirose vs. Kōichi Fukaura | Toshiyuki Moriuchi vs. Takeshi Fujii | Amahiko Satō | Yoshiharu Habu | ||
| 37 | 2009 | Yoshiharu Habu | Toshiaki Kubo | Kazuki Kimura | Toshiaki Kubo vs. Yasumitsu Satō | Kōichi Kodama vs. Kōta Kanai | Masayuki Toyoshima | Masayuki Toyoshima | |
| 36 | 2008 | Yoshiharu Habu | Makoto Nakahara | Akira Watanabe | Toshiaki Kubo | Akira Watanabe vs. Yoshiharu Habu | Atsushi Miyata | Toshiaki Kubo | |
| 37 | 2007 | Yoshiharu Habu | Yasumitsu Satō | Kōichi Fukaura | Kōichi Fukaura vs. Yoshiharu Habu | Yasuaki Murayama | Yoshiharu Habu | ||
| 36 | 2006 | Yasumitsu Satō | Yoshiharu Habu | Akira Watanabe | Kōji Tanigawa vs. Yoshiharu Habu | Chikara Akutsu | Yasumitsu Satō | ||
| 35 | 2005 | Yoshiharu Habu |
| Yasumitsu Satō | Shin'ya Satō | Akira Watanabe |
Kōzō Masuda Awards
The Kōzō Masuda Award and the Kōzō Masuda Special Prize are two prizes awarded to professional or amateur players who have made an outstanding contribution to the development and evolution of shogi openings by way of innovation or excellence in shogi theory or tactics. The awards are named after the innovative player, Kōzō Masuda. The Masuda Award is given out yearly since 1995 while the Masuda Special Prize is awarded infrequently.Winners
Masuda Award
- 1994 Kunio Naitō for the Side Pawn Capture, Bishop-33 variations.
- 1995 Makoto Nakahara for the Nakahara variation of Side Pawn Capture and the Nakahara castle.
- 1996 Takeshi Fujii for the Fujii System.
- 1997 Teruichi Aono for the Saginomiya joseki.
- 1998 Makoto Chūza for the Side Pawn Capture, Chūza's Rook.
- 1999 Kunio Yonenaga for the Yonenaga King.
- 2000 Hiroyuki Miura for the Millenium castle.
- 2001 Masakazu Kondō for the Cheerful Central Rook.
- 2002 Kōichi Kodama for the Crab Silvers.
- 2003 Kōji Tanigawa for his...S-77+ move in his A-class Ranking Match against Akira Shima.
- 2004 Daisuke Suzuki for the New Quick Ishida.
- 2005 Hitoshige Awaji for the Tempo Loss Bishop Exchange.
- 2006 Yasumitsu Satō for the ambition and variety of moves in Direct Opposing Rook.
- 2007 Kenji Imaizumi for the 1... R-32 opening.
- 2008 Toshiaki Kubo for his 6. R-7e move in the 2nd. match against Yasumitsu Satō for the 34th Kiō title.
- 2009 Eiji Iijima for the Iijima Bishop Pullback.
- 2010 Yoshitaka Hoshino for the Super High Speed Silver-37 strategy.
- 2011 Yasumitsu Satō for the move 13. K-57 in his first game against Toshiaki Kubo for the Ōshō title.
- 2012 Takeshi Fujii for the Bishop Exchange Fourth File Rook.
- 2013 Ayumu Matsuo for the...K-52 variation of Side Pawn Capture.
- 2014 Tatsuya Sugai for his many tactical variations against Central Rook Anaguma, Cheerful Central Rook, Quick Ishida and others.
- 2015 Eisaku Tomioka for the Tomioka variation of Bishop Exchange, Reclining Silver.
- 2016 Shōta Chida for the Bishop Exchange, Reclining Silver variations K-42/G-62/R-81.
- 2017 Teruichi Aono for the Aono Side Pawn Capture, and Yūki Sasaki for the Yūki Side Pawn Capture.
- 2018 Sōta Fujii for the move 38.... Rx7g+ in the final match of the 5th class of the 31st Ryūō Ranking tournament against Naohiro Ishida on June 5, 2018.
- 2019 The shogi engine elmo for developing the “elmo castle”.
Masuda Special Prize
- 2003 Katsumi Tateishi for the Tateishi Fourth File Rook.
- 2005 Taku Morishita for the Morishita System.
- 2007 Kazuo Manabe for his splendid, phantom...*B-42 move in his match against Masayuki Toyoshima.
- 2011 Takayuki Yamasaki for the New Yamasaki variation of Side Pawn Capture.
- 2014 Yasuaki Tsukada for the Tsukada Special developed in the mid 1980s.
- 2016 Hifumi Katō for his developments and many novel contributions for Climbing Silver over his 62-year career.
- 2017 Nobuyuki Ōuchi for his many developments in the strategy for Bear-in-the-hole Ranging Rook.
- 2018 Tadahisa Maruyama for his research on Bishop Exchange opening including Tempo Loss Bishop Exchange.
- 2019 Kenji Waki for the Waki System.