Shenzhen Sci Fi Spring Creation, Morning Star Awards Original Science Fiction Contests
On the afternoon of February 11, 2023, the 8thMorning Star Awards Chinese Original Science Fiction Art Contests Ceremony came to an end at Shenzhen Book City · Nanshan City. The competition is a science fiction literary creation competition initiated by the Shenzhen Social Welfare Foundation and the Science & Fantasy Growth Foundation under the guidance of the Shenzhen Science and Technology Association, supported by the Nanshan District Science and Technology Association of Shenzhen, hosted by the Shenzhen Ether Science Fiction Creative Development Center, and organized by Shenzhen Creative Airline Cultural Development Co., Ltd.
Chen Zhiyuan, Minister of the Science Popularization Department of the Shenzhen Association for Science and Technology, Jia Qiong, Second level Director of the Nanshan District Association for Science and Technology, Zhao Ke from the Education and Training Center of Southern University of Science and Technology, Wei Fuhua, Vice President of Haitian Publishing House, Wang Saijun, General Manager of Nanshan City, Shenzhen Book City, Tan Weixing, Director of the Shenzhen Astronomical Society, Liu Ting, Director of the Youth Reading Editing Department of Haitian Publishing House, Yin Guang, Executive Director of the Hong Kong Writers Association and Dean of Penglai Science Fiction Institute, CoFUTURE, University of Oslo, Norway Project PhD researcher Wang Kanyu, young science fiction writers Wang Nuonuo, Tan Gang, and fractal orange, founder of Saifan Science Fiction Space Sun Yue, founder of Shenzhen Mankas Digital Media Co., Ltd. Liang Chaopo, young science fiction director Zou Xiaoyong, research assistant at the Science and Human Imagination Research Center of Southern University of Science and Technology Chen Faxiang, and chairman of the Science & Fantasy Growth Foundation Ma Guobin attended the award ceremony together.
The preparation for the 8th "Morning Star Awards" China Original Science Fiction Literature Competition took six months and officially launched on September 30th last year, setting a record for the latest start time and shortest collection time since its inception. Multiple science fiction literature awards have finally settled, with Wang Yanzhong's work "Beyond Everything" winning Best Short Science Fiction Novel, Wang Wen's work "Green Island Nocturne" winning Best Medium Science Fiction Novel, and Bai Hua's work "Tian Lu" winning Best Long Science Fiction Novel.
Chen Zhiyuan, Minister of the Science Popularization Department of the Shenzhen Association for Science and Technology, delivered a speech at the award ceremony of this competition. He pointed out that the Municipal Association for Science and Technology has always attached great importance to the development of the science fiction industry, which is a systematic project that is indispensable from original novels to the film industry chain, and then to the supporting financial environment. In recent years, the Science & Fantasy Growth Foundation has been committed to cultivating, linking, and integrating multiple resource elements in the field of science fiction, spreading science fiction concepts and culture, guiding cutting-edge innovation in technology enterprises, and is a rare driving force for the industry in China. The "Morning Star Awards" is a brand event in the field of science fiction that has been carefully cultivated by the Nanshan Association for Science and Technology for many years. We hope to select works with high international recognition and significant social influence from science fiction literature in the future, create science fiction IPs with Shenzhen characteristics and attributes, break through the circle of science fiction, and tell the stories of Shenzhen and China from a science fiction perspective.
Sanfeng, director and chief researcher of the Science Fiction Foundation and chairman of the Morning Star Awards Science Fiction Literature Competition, stated in his concluding remarks that the theme of this competition, "Creation", comes from Zhuangzi, meaning "Creating rules and evolving all things". He looks forward to seeing science fiction authors become creators of fantasy worlds. The organizing committee of the competition received nearly 800 submissions, and during the epidemic, the authors worked tirelessly, with many new and old authors submitting satisfactory answers. At the same time, he revealed that the next Morning Star Awards will continue to innovate and consider implementing a co creation model with science fiction authors and technology companies.
Bai Hua, who won the Best Novel Award at the 8th Morning Star Awards, said in an interview that science fiction can inspire humanity's longing for the future or even farther, and can also inspire the thinking of the next generation of young people. If more science fiction can inspire people to think about the future and think about the farther future, it will promote human development.
Liu Ting, the head of the Youth Literature Editing Department at Haitian Publishing House, introduced the upcoming "China Science Fiction Emerging Series" in collaboration with the Science & Fantasy Growth Foundation. This series is edited by Wang Jinkang, one of the Chinese science fiction kings, and consists of four volumes. The content covers topics such as artificial intelligence, extraterrestrial life, metaverse, and future technological society, directly facing conflicts between AI and life, morality and justice. Expected to be published in April 2023.
Wang Kanyu, a young science fiction writer from the University of Oslo in Norway, shared her research project CoFUTURE with the audience during the award ceremony, which is a synchronic, complex, and coexisting shared future, seeking solutions to current crises from global science fiction and futuristic cultural phenomena. She said that many works in Chinese science fiction reflect the theme of "community of shared destiny", which is very important in international dissemination.
After the award ceremony, a forum on the industrialization of science fiction literature IP was immediately held. The Three Body Problem and the Wandering Earth drive the industrialization development of science fiction IP. The popularity of "Wandering Earth 2" highlights the public's confidence in the development of China's science fiction industry. Shenzhen also has technological support, manufacturing capabilities, and creative abilities, and the Shenzhen model of science fiction IP industrialization is expected to make a difference.
On the forum, four guests represented various links in the science fiction industry chain, from authors to publishers, to films and games, and even to IP derivatives. The transformation of science fiction's textual imagination into images requires the joint efforts of the creative team (including even scientific advisors). Mankas, incubated by a Science & Fantasy Growth Foundation, participated in the special effects production of "Wandering Earth 2" and was responsible for the special effects of the moon tearing apart. Sun Yue, founder of Saifan Science Fiction Space, who recently became a popular topic of microblog search and raised more than 100 million yuan in derivatives crowdfunding, was also invited to the forum. He said that referring to foreign markets, he believed that science fiction derivatives were an industry worth investing in and would gradually develop. The biggest obstacle was the lack of suitable IP. Wei Fuhua, vice president of Haitian Publishing House, expressed confidence in cultivating local science fiction writers, because Shenzhen, as a city of scientific and technological innovation, has a strong innovation atmosphere, many scientific and technological enterprises, and strong scientific and technological innovation strength, which naturally fits with the science fiction industry.
Finally, local science fiction director Zou Xiaoyong shared with science fiction fans the science fiction film "Chasing the Light" that is currently being produced. This film is the first time that a Science & Fantasy Growth Foundation has served as a science fiction industry consultant for the film in the form of integrated services. It is reported that the film has received first investment from local institutions in Shenzhen and is also being post produced by the Shenzhen special effects company of "The Wandering Earth 2".