# Eiji Sawamura Award

The Eiji Sawamura Award (沢村栄治賞, Sawamura Eiji-shō), commonly known as the Sawamura Award, is an honor bestowed upon the top starting pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball each year.
The award was originally established by Japanese magazine "Nekkyū" in 1947 to honor the career of Eiji Sawamura, a power pitcher who enjoyed an illustrious career for the Tokyo Giants before being killed in combat during World War II. It is a special award that is independent of the official Most Valuable Pitcher award that is presented to one pitcher in each league (Central and Pacific) each year.

## Overview
### Selection process

One starting pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball is chosen at the end of each season based on the following selection criteria.
* Games started: 25 or more
* Wins: 15 or more
* Complete games: 10 or more
* Winning percentage: .600 or higher
* Innings pitched: 200 or more
* Earned run average (ERA): 2.50 or lower
* Strikeouts: 150 or more
The selection criteria were established in 1982; prior to this, a pool of journalists voted on the pitcher they thought was most deserving of the award without any particular criteria. These simply serve as guidelines; while the pitcher who fulfills the most criteria has the most likelihood of winning, pitchers who do not fulfill all seven criteria have often been presented the award.
In the rare event that another pitcher has a season that is deemed more outstanding, a pitcher may, in turn, fulfill all seven criteria and not win the award. In 2008, Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters starting pitcher Yu Darvish (16–4 win–loss record, 1.88 ERA, 208 strikeouts) fulfilled all seven criteria, but Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles starting pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma won the award despite meeting only six criteria because it was deemed that Iwakuma (21–4, 1.87 ERA, 159 strikeouts) had the better season overall.
The selection committee usually consists of five former pitchers.

### Other notes

Because it began as an independent award by Nekkyū, a magazine catered towards Giants fans, only Central League pitchers were eligible to win the award from 1950 (the first year the NPB employed the current two-league format) to 1989. The first pitcher to be bestowed the honors from the Pacific League was Hideo Nomo for the Kintetsu Buffaloes in 1990.
No pitcher was found to be sufficiently deserving of the award in 1971, 1980, 1984, 2000, and 2019. The award has been presented to two pitchers in the same season twice (1966, 2003).

## Winners

Bold names indicate pitchers who met all seven criteria (limited to 1982 and later winners)
| Year | Player | Team |
| 1947 | Takehiko Bessho | Nankai Hawks |
| 1948 | Hiroshi Nakao | Yomiuri Giants |
| 1949 | Hideo Fujimoto | Yomiuri Giants |
| 1950 | Shigeo Sanada | Shochiku Robins |
| 1951 | Shigeru Sugishita | Chunichi Dragons |
| 1952 | Shigeru Sugishita | Chunichi Dragons |
| 1953 | Takumi Otomo | Yomiuri Giants |
| 1954 | Shigeru Sugishita | Chunichi Dragons |
| 1955 | Takehiko Bessho | Yomiuri Giants |
| 1956 | Masaichi Kaneda | Kokutetsu Swallows |
| 1957 | Masaichi Kaneda | Kokutetsu Swallows |
| 1958 | Masaichi Kaneda | Kokutetsu Swallows |
| 1959 | Minoru Murayama | Hanshin Tigers |
| 1960 | Ritsuo Horimoto | Yomiuri Giants |
| 1961 | Hiroshi Gondo | Chunichi Dragons |
| 1962 | Masaaki Koyama | Hanshin Tigers |
| 1963 | Yoshiaki Ito | Yomiuri Giants |
| 1964 | Gene Bacque | Hanshin Tigers |
| 1965 | Minoru Murayama | Hanshin Tigers |
| 1966 | Minoru Murayama | Hanshin Tigers |
| 1966 | Tsuneo Horiuchi | Yomiuri Giants |
| 1967 | Kentaro Ogawa | Chunichi Dragons |
| 1968 | Yutaka Enatsu | Hanshin Tigers |
| 1969 | Kazumi Takahashi | Yomiuri Giants |
| 1970 | Masaji Hiramatsu | Taiyo Whales |
| 1971 | Not awarded | Not awarded |
| 1972 | Tsuneo Horiuchi | Yomiuri Giants |
| 1973 | Kazumi Takahashi | Yomiuri Giants |
| 1974 | Senichi Hoshino | Chunichi Dragons |
| 1975 | Yoshiro Sotokoba | Hiroshima Toyo Carp |
| 1976 | Kojiro Ikegaya | Hiroshima Toyo Carp |
| 1977 | Shigeru Kobayashi | Yomiuri Giants |
| 1978 | Hiromu Matsuoka | Yakult Swallows |
| 1979 | Shigeru Kobayashi | Hanshin Tigers |
| 1980 | Not awarded | Not awarded |
| 1981 | Takashi Nishimoto | Yomiuri Giants |
| 1982 | Manabu Kitabeppu | Hiroshima Toyo Carp |
| 1983 | Kazuhiko Endo | Yokohama Taiyo Whales |
| 1984 | Not awarded | Not awarded |
| 1985 | Tatsuo Komatsu | Chunichi Dragons |
| 1986 | Manabu Kitabeppu | Hiroshima Toyo Carp |
| 1987 | Masumi Kuwata | Yomiuri Giants |
| 1988 | Yutaka Ohno | Hiroshima Toyo Carp |
| 1989 | Masaki Saito | Yomiuri Giants |
| 1990 | Hideo Nomo | Kintetsu Buffaloes |
| 1991 | Shinji Sasaoka | Hiroshima Toyo Carp |
| 1992 | Takehiro Ishii | Seibu Lions |
| 1993 | Shinji Imanaka | Chunichi Dragons |
| 1994 | Masahiro Yamamoto | Chunichi Dragons |
| 1995 | Masaki Saito | Yomiuri Giants |
| 1996 | Masaki Saito | Yomiuri Giants |
| 1997 | Fumiya Nishiguchi | Seibu Lions |
| 1998 | Kenjiro Kawasaki | Yakult Swallows |
| 1999 | Koji Uehara | Yomiuri Giants |
| 2000 | Not awarded | Not awarded |
| 2001 | Daisuke Matsuzaka | Seibu Lions |
| 2002 | Koji Uehara | Yomiuri Giants |
| 2003 | Kei Igawa | Hanshin Tigers |
| 2003 | Kazumi Saito | Fukuoka Daiei Hawks |
| 2004 | Kenshin Kawakami | Chunichi Dragons |
| 2005 | Toshiya Sugiuchi | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks |
| 2006 | Kazumi Saito | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks |
| 2007 | Yu Darvish | Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters |
| 2008 | Hisashi Iwakuma | Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles |
| 2009 | Hideaki Wakui | Saitama Seibu Lions |
| 2010 | Kenta Maeda | Hiroshima Toyo Carp |
| 2011 | Masahiro Tanaka | Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles |
| 2012 | Tadashi Settsu | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks |
| 2013 | Masahiro Tanaka | Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles |
| 2014 | Chihiro Kaneko | Orix Buffaloes |
| 2015 | Kenta Maeda | Hiroshima Toyo Carp |
| 2016 | Kris Johnson | Hiroshima Toyo Carp |
| 2017 | Tomoyuki Sugano | Yomiuri Giants |
| 2018 | Tomoyuki Sugano | Yomiuri Giants |
| 2019 | Not awarded | Not awarded |
| 2020 | Yūdai Ōno | Chunichi Dragons |
| 2021 | Yoshinobu Yamamoto | Orix Buffaloes |
| 2022 | Yoshinobu Yamamoto | Orix Buffaloes |
| 2023 | Yoshinobu Yamamoto | Orix Buffaloes |
| 2024 | Not awarded | Not awarded |