Josai University Educational Corporation hosted a presentation ceremony for the 'Kiro Poetry Award', for international exchange students studying in Japan, in Building No. 3 on the Tokyo Kioicho Campus. Two years ago in December, Josai University established the International Modern Poetry Center to commemorate the university’s 50th anniversary. The Kiro Poetry Award was created as part of the Center's program. The award was sponsored by Shichosha Publishing, and supported by the Mainichi Newspapers and The Japan Times.

The name of the award, "Kiro," is a title of an anthology of poems by poet Noriko Mizuta, who also heads the Center. The awards are given to international exchange students studying in Japan (university students and high school students, irrespective of age). Many entries were received during the application period, from July to November, 2016.

At the award ceremony in the International Conference Room, former Chancellor Noriko Mizuta remarked in her greeting, "Please continue to write poetry which amazes and impresses us. I have hopes that this prize will be a new step forward for modern Japanese poetry". Entries were assessed by a panel of judges comprising three poets: Mutsuo Takahashi, Toshiko Hirata, and Kiwao Nomura. Mr. Takahashi said, "There were many outstanding entries, and I was inspired reading them." Poetry Awards for Excellence were presented to five winners, and Honorable Mention Awards were presented to seven winners. Mr. Andrew Campana (Canada), who studies at Waseda University's School of Culture, Media and Society, won the Poetry Award for Excellence for his poem, "Cinepoem". He represented the other award winners and expressed his joy saying, "Even though walls are being built between countries in this era, a new path of poetry is opened up. We will continue to walk the path of poetry and devote ourselves to it." At the end of the ceremony, the award winners gave poetry readings.

The poems, affiliations, and nationalities of the award winners (other than Andrew Campana) are as follows. (Titles omitted)
　 [Poetry Award for Excellence] Jonas Engesvik (Norway), "Klein Bottle", Josai International University, Graduate School of Humanities ▽ Torubara Adelina (Ukraine), "The City of a Million Roses", Josai International University, Faculty of Media Studies ▽ Qing Zhu (real name: Luo Lijie) (China), "Water", Josai International University, Graduate School of Humanities ▽ Xiao Bo Lun (China), "It Means Snow Will Fall The Day After Tomorrow", Josai University, Faculty of Contemporary Policy Studies.
　 [Honorable Mention Award] Nemeth Vivien (Hungary), "Ghost", Josai University, Faculty of Business Administration ▽ Chen Xuan (China), "The Giant's Footprints", Hokkaido University, Faculty of Letters ▽ Bandzi Anita (Hungary), "Starry Sky", Josai International University, Faculty of Media Studies▽ Huang Xiao Shuang (China), "Red Spider Lily", The University of Tokyo, The College of Arts and Sciences ▽ Liu Mu Yang (China), "Fall Into The Sky", Josai International University, Graduate School of Humanities ▽ Tu Chong (China), "Capriccio", Tokyo World Japanese Language School ▽ Chen Lu (China), "Wind ", Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.