The Hoshi Awards are presented to authors of science fiction short stories that combine literary excellence with a playfully imaginative vision of the future. While imagination is something everyone possesses, it takes creative stamina to exercise it continuously. It is this rare kind of stamina that defines the award’s recipients. Our visual motif—rooted in people’s earliest experiences of play—depicts well-worn items of playground equipment with areas of chipped and peeling paint. At first glance, they may appear old and worn. But as symbols of the human mind continuously engaged in unstructured, imaginative play, we present them as objects of enduring beauty.