Taiwanese Hokkien Illustrated Work 'Spring Snow' Wins Top Literary Prize

A creative work blending Taiwanese Hokkien language and illustration, titled "Spring Snow," has captured the top award in the "One Zhang Yijia, Radiant Town Walk" competition. The contest, a collaboration between the Taiwan Literature Society and the Taiwanese Literature Department at National Chung Cheng University, saw 50 submissions vying for recognition.

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The first-place winning work "Spring Snow" was the most outstanding in terms of visual arrangement and the interplay between text and images. The author cleverly used the homophone of the Chinaberry tree to express personal feelings and deeply fit the Chiayi landscape.

Judges lauded "Spring Snow" for its outstanding visual arrangement and the interplay between text and images. The author's clever use of a homophone for the "Chinaberry tree" (苦楝樹, kǔ liàn shù) to express personal emotions and connect deeply with the Chiayi landscape was particularly highlighted. The work was noted for its poetic and prose-like brilliance, exploring the philosophy of "bitterness" in life through the contrast between "winter's cold" and "spring's warmth."

Professor Chiang Pao-chai of National Chung Cheng University's Taiwanese Literature Department explained that the competition's name is a nod to the important Chiayi-born writer Chang Wen-huan. Although Chang studied in Japan and lived in Taichung, his work centered on his hometown, Chiayi, underscoring the profound influence of "landscape" on creativity. The name "Yi" (藝) in the competition title is a homophone for Chang's surname, "Zhang" (張), advocating for the documentation of Chiayi's scenery through both eyes and cameras.

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The naming of the event is related to Zhang Wen-huan, an important literary figure in Chiayi. Although Zhang studied in Japan and lived in Taichung, his works are centered around his hometown Chiayi, showing the profound influence of 'landscape' on his creation.

Chiang also noted the competition's relevance amid Chiayi's ongoing transformation from an agricultural region to a technological hub, especially with the recent Taiwan Lantern Festival held in the county. She expressed concern that vital aspects of Chiayi's language, literature, and cultural output might be overlooked. The contest encouraged participants to capture beautiful memories through words and images while exploring local attractions, thereby enriching the meaning of new cultural sites.

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As Chiayi is transforming from agriculture and industry to technology, with the Taiwan Lantern Festival being held in Chiayi County this year, the environment is changing drastically. It is very regrettable if Chiayi's outstanding language, literature, and cultural output are overlooked.

Regarding the use of AI tools in submissions, the judging panel adopted an open stance, noting that the competition guidelines did not explicitly prohibit their use. Several entries, including some selected works, showed signs of AI assistance. The judges acknowledged that these pieces still possessed merit in terms of emotional expression and local depiction, thus maintaining the integrity of the selection.

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The judges took an inclusive and open attitude towards the use of AI tools to assist writing in some selected works, as the entry guidelines did not explicitly prohibit it.