Art Box Grand Prize, conducting this year its 19th edition, is a competition that, thanks to a two-step ｓｅｌｅｃｔion operated by judges invited amongst personalities in the art industry, aims at discovering new talents and　encouraging young artists. Artists who, every year, have won the Art Box grand Prize, could be seen later winning other renowned prizes and have experienced a launch to their careers. In addition to the cash award and the contribution of a exhibition space in Ginza, , Art Box provides a comprehensive support to the artists with the sale of artworks during the exhibition and online, and services of art production. This year, Kazuhito Fujita (art journalist) and Keizaburo Okamura (painter, and instructor at Tama Art University), along with Art Box president, Akiyoshi Kizuka, taking into account the interpretation of the concept for 2009 "live" and the impact of their oral presentation, have ｓｅｌｅｃｔed, amongst numerous candidates, the winners. It is Dai Takahashi, graduate from Tohoku University of Art and Design, who have won the Grand Prize award, and 4 other finalists, who have been chosen this year. This year theme "Live" was challenging because the sensitivity and the representational power of the artists were put to test depending on the way they give form to joy, anger, hopes, in one word, existence. Kazuhito Fujita, regarding the work of Dai Takahashi, the winner of the Grand Prize, comments: "The motif of the body that seems to be dismantled with the wind, produces an impression of uncertainty about human existence, of fragility. (...) Therefore, while a feeling of disquietude, of deprivation, emerges into the heart as well as into the body, this psychology of the modern man, without emotional excitement, in a straightforward manner and through a regular style and touch, in Dai Takahashi's work more than in the other work, has to be highly evaluated." Art Box Grand Prize Exhibition gives to the winners an opportunity to gain the attention the art industry, and is also a chance for curators, collectors and art critics to discover what may be the popular contemporary artists of tomorrow.　 Art Box Grand Prize Exhibition taking place for about 2 months from January 10th will hold a solo exhibition for each winning artist, starting with the Grand Prize winner Dai Takahashi, in Art Box Gallery. Next year, celebrating the 20th edition of Art Box Grand Prize as well as the 20th anniversary of Art Box international, even bigger scale events are planned.