The Kiriyama Prize, originally called the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize, is awarded in recognition of "outstanding books about the Pacific Rim and South Asia that encourage greater mutual understanding of and among the peoples and nations of this vast and culturally diverse region".
The prize is administered and sponsored by Pacific Rim Voices, a nonprofit organization which was founded in San Francisco in 1993 with the objective of promoting "greater understanding of and among the peoples and nations of the Pacific Rim and South Asia". It was named in honour of the Reverend Seiyu Kiriyama, president and founder of Agon Shu, a Japanese Buddhist Association, who was amongst the early financial supporters of the organisation.
Submissions for the Kiriyama Prize must be published in Canada and/or the United States, and "relate in some significant way" to the Pacific Rim or South Asia. The Prize was first awarded in 1996; in first three years there was only one award, but from 1999 onwards there were separate awards for fiction and nonfiction - the winner in each category receiving the sum of USD 15,000. There was no prize awarded in 2003, when the organisers decided to change from announcing the winner in October to March each year.
Past Winners
Overall winners 1996-1998
Winners of the Fiction category from 1999 onwards
Winners of the Non-Fiction category from 1999 onwards
REFERENCES
http://www.kiriyamaprize.org/