Science and technology

Japan Prize: winners and how it is awarded

The Japan Prize is awarded each year by the Japan Prize Foundation in two fields of science and technology that change from year to year. It was established in 1983 with the endorsement of the Japanese cabinet. Laureates are announced in January.^2,4,3,1

How the winner is chosen

A Field Selection Committee names the two fields two years ahead. The foundation invites scientists worldwide to nominate candidates, and for the 2026 prize it asked about 16,000 people and received 292 nominations. A Selection Committee reviews the candidates and sends its recommendations to the Board of Directors for the final decision.

Winners

1. 2026Cynthia Dwork (United States)¹Electronics, Information, and Communication. For leading research toward an ethical digital society, including differential privacy and fairness
2. 2026Shizuo Akira, Zhijian "James" Chen (Japan and United States)¹Life Sciences. For discovering how the innate immune system senses nucleic acids
3. 2025Russell Dean Dupuis (United States)¹Materials Sciences and Production
4. 2025Carlos M. Duarte (Spain)¹Biological Production, Ecology/Environment
5. 2024Brian J. Hoskins, John Michael Wallace (United Kingdom and United States)¹Resources, Energy, the Environment, and Social Infrastructure
6. 2024Ronald M. Evans (United States)¹Medical Science and Pharmaceutical Science
7. 2023Masataka Nakazawa, Kazuo Hagimoto (Japan)¹Electronics, Information, and Communication
8. 2023Gero Miesenböck, Karl Deisseroth (Austria and United States)¹Life Science
9. 2022Katalin Karikó, Drew Weissman (Hungary and United States)³Materials and Production. For pioneering research contributing to the development of mRNA vaccines
10. 2022Christopher Field (United States)³Biological Production, Ecology/Environment. For outstanding contributions to the estimation of global biospheric productivity and climate change science
11. 2021Martin Andrew Green (Australia)⁴Resources, Energy, the Environment, and Social Infrastructure. For developing high efficiency silicon photovoltaic devices
12. 2021Bert Vogelstein, Robert A. Weinberg (United States)⁴Medical Science and Medicinal Science. For pioneering contributions to the development of a multi step carcinogenesis model

Sources

1. The Japan Prize Foundation (via Business Wire), 2026 Japan Prize Laureates Announced (21 January 2026)
2. The Japan Prize Foundation, About the Japan Prize (28 October 2026)
3. The Japan Prize Foundation, 2022 Japan Prize laureates, press release (25 January 2022)
4. The Japan Prize Foundation, 2021 Japan Prize laureates, press release (29 January 2021)