An Asahi Shimbun digital feature focusing on handwritten letters from a death row inmate won the top Grand Prix in the Japan Typography Annual 2025 awards announced on Nov. 18.

“Letters from death row inmate Iwao Hakamada” was praised for effectively conveying the psychological changes the inmate underwent during his prolonged incarceration through the text of more than 2,000 letters.

Yuri Murakami, leader of the reporting team, reflected on conveying the truth and the emotions of a man who had maintained his innocence for more than half a century.

She pondered this challenge in the summer of 2023, as the retrial of Hakamada, 88, who had been sentenced to death for the 1966 murder of a family of four, approached.

Murakami decided to focus on the extensive letters Hakamada had written during his incarceration.

“I wanted to report on and share his claims of innocence, but the effects of his prolonged confinement made communication difficult,” she said. “I hoped to get closer to his real voice through his letters.”

As the team read through more than 2,000 letters in chronological order, they found an increasing number of perplexing passages, such as claims of being attacked by “demons.”

Kyota Tanaka, a member of the reporting team who analyzed the letters, said, “Hakamada was consistently trying to convey something, but I was struck by how his writing gradually became more incoherent―it was frightening.

Each character seemed to carry a “cry for help.”

Feeling this, the reporting team agreed to present the letters to readers as authentically as possible, which led to the creation of this web feature.

The design department, which assumed a leading role in the work, focused on visually representing the effects of Hakamada’s prolonged confinement.

The distortions and changes in his handwriting reflected the weight of the long years in custody.

Designer Aya Yamaichi highlighted these changes, using enlarged photographs to clearly show the tremors in his writing.

Engineer Morihiro Sakuma ensured that readers could smoothly navigate through the feature.

Yuki Hara, deputy head of the design department, described the letters as “important testimony conveying the suffering caused by a wrongful conviction and its injustice,” emphasizing the need to preserve their raw, tangible quality.

Takeshi Tokitsu of the video department captured images of Hakamada’s daily life following his release in 2014 after 48 years in detention.

Among these moments, Tokitsu was struck by the realization that “Hakamada still lives in an ‘inner world’ he created to escape the fear of death.”

He chose an introspective photo of Hakamada, eyes closed, as the opening image.

The feature was completed and published on Oct. 26 last year.

Chief judge Takeo Nakano, a professor at Musashino Art University, said, “The feature powerfully showcased the extreme psychological conditions through handwritten text.”

He said that typography encompasses all forms of design that convey meaning through text.

“The feature’s design was highly praised for its role in bridging Hamada’s story with the readers. I believe this is the very essence of what typography is meant to do,” Nakano said.

The Japan Typography Annual yearbook is published by the Japan Typography Association, a nonprofit organization based in Tokyo, which consists of around 200 designers, researchers and educators from Japan and abroad.

Since its inception in 1969, the publication has been regarded as a leading authority in Japan’s design world.

It honors and features outstanding works in 10 categories, including text design, logos, books and infographics.

The Grand Prix is the highest honor, selected from the Best Work award winners in each category, which honors outstanding designs featuring typography.

For the 2025 annual, there were 2,045 entries from Japan and abroad.

According to the association, it is rare for a news-related work to win the Grand Prix.

This is also the first time that the Grand Prix was awarded in the on-screen category, which includes video and web content. 

＊＊＊

For details of Hakamada’s trial and letters that he sent to his family while on death row for decades, check out https://www.asahi.com/special/hakamadaletters/en/.