Awarding a Prize: An Ethnography of a Juried Ceramic Art Exhibition in Japan

This article describes and analyses the selection and prize awarding processes for a biennial ceramics exhibition in Japan. Based on long-term fieldwork in the “art world” (Becker 1982) of contemporary Japanese ceramics, as well as on participant observation of the processes concerned, the article addresses and draws upon two sets of sociological writings: one concerned with prizes and awards; the other with evaluative practices.