At the ceremony, president of the institute Tadashi Matsui gave his greetings, followed by Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors Itaru Koeda of Nissan Motor Co. Mr. Koeda stated, "At Nissan, under our motto of enriching people's lives, we take part in various activities. In particular, in this age of diversification, education which cultivates creativity and the ability to think is extremely important. We wish to make a contribution toward the healthy development of children through our grand prix activities." Furthermore, four of the judges including children's storybook author Kimiko Aman offered comments regarding this year's winning works as well as words of encouragement toward the artists' future activities. At the closing of the ceremony, each winner was presented with an award certificate and a commemorative gift by President Matsui and Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors Koeda, and the two Grand Prize winners Ms. Sato and Ms. Chiba gave speeches as representatives of the winners. This was followed by a tour of the International Institute for Children's Literature and a fellowship banquet. This year's ceremonies closed in a cordial and relaxed atmosphere.

Participants: Tadashi Matsui, President of the International Institute for Children's Literature, Osaka; Itaru Koeda, Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors, Nissan Motor, Co.; Kimiko Aman, children's storybook author; Kyoko Matsuoka, Director of the Tokyo Children's Library; Yutaka Sugita, children's picture book author; Hanmo Sugiura, children's picture book author; Satoko Komatsu, Chief Specialist at the International Institute for Children's Literature, Osaka; twenty prize winners including Madoka Sato, Grand Prize winner in the storybook category, and Minako Chiba, Grand Prize winner in the picture book category.

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