Winners of the Grademy Award announced
Celebrating the fortieth anniversary of top gravure magazine Weekly Friday, the Grademy Award was announced last autumn and votes collected online to find what was billed as Asia’s top gradol.
Almost all of the 232 candidates were Japanese, though, so the “Asian” claim was slightly disingenuous. But quibbles aside, the public votes have been counted and the results — and awards — finally announced online earlier last week.
The top prize — billed as Most Valuable Gradol — went to leading gravure idol Ina Enohara.
Best Newcomer (also billed as Best Gradol Debut) was shared by 19-year-old Nanaka Yano and 18-year-old Miu Shirahama. The prize was only open to idols who had released their first photo book.
The Global Award (billed in the original award publicity as the Asian Gradol award) was won by Korean YouTuber Pyo Eunji.
The Special Jury Award was given to music idol Rin Kaname.
And finally, the Legend Gradol award went to 41-year-old Sayaka Isoyama, one of Japan’s top jukujo and a star since the 2000s.
Do you agree with the choice of winners for the awards?
The list of candidates was formidable and comprehensive, but not perfect by any means. There were some notable and strange absences, not least Hina Kikuchi, who is one of the biggest names in gravure right now. She was the joint winner at the Gravure Japan Awards 2024, organized by Friday’s rival publication, Weekly Playboy. Somewhat contradictorily, Ina Enohara won Best Newcomer at those awards but bagged the top prize this time.
Only digital or print publications of photo books by Weekly Friday were considered eligible, which somewhat limited and shaped the list of candidates.
