Today the winners have been announced for the "53rd Blue Ribbon Awards" where reporters from the 7 major newspapers in Tokyo come together to elect their favorite movies and actors of the year.

Both "Akunin" and "Kokuhaku" dominated the nominations this year. In the end Nakashima Tetsuya's "Kokuhaku" (Confession), that has just been announced as one of the 5 nominees for "Best Foreign Language Film" at the upcoming Oscars a few hours ago, emerged as the winner and won "Best Film". The stellar performance of actor Tsumabuki Satoshi in "Akunin" earned him the "Best Starring Actor" award. Actress Terajima Shinobu won "Best Starring Actress" for her role in "Caterpillar".

Ishii Yuuya received "Best Director" for his amazing work in "Kawa no soko kara konnichi wa" (Sawako Decides).

Actress Kimura Yoshino won "Best Supporting Actress" for her role as a monster parent in "Kokuhaku" whereas Ishibashi Renji received "Best Supporting Actor" for his outstanding work in "Outrage" and "Kondo wa aisaika".

This year's "Rookie of the Year" award went to Sakuraba Nanami for her role in "The Last Chushingura" and to Ikuta Toma for his movie debut "Ningen Shikkaku" (The Fallen Angel). It is the first time in the long history of the award that an active Johnny's talent has won in one of the categories.

Proudly he stated, "I have always felt like a leftover not fit for any group within the agency. I love to act and the ratio of successful applicants for a position as an actor isn't that high within the agency, thus I decided that this is what I want to do. However, I have still continuously been trying to find out where I am actually standing right now and it really means a lot to me to be the first of my agency to win one of the awards."

Sakuraba was already able to feel the confidence she received from the award as well. She stated, "Back in my hometown in Kagoshima, when I first heard about such an award, it always felt like a distant thing to me. I never would thought that I would be receiving it someday. It makes me so incredibly happy to be called an 'actress'. With the newfound self-confidence I have received from the award, I'd like to keep on trying my best."

Sources: sponichi, sanspo, mainichi