The 12th All-Japan National Young Beauty Contest was held in Tokyo on Tuesday. The competition, last held in 2006, has launched the careers of many female stars, including Aya Ueto (23) and Ryoko Yonekura (34).

Roughly 94,800 contestants submitted an application, though the field was reduced to 21 candidates for the actual competition. From those, 13-year-old Ayano Kudo was selected as the grand prize winner. The first-year junior high student from Miyazaki also won a second award, in the model category.

Other winners were Mochizuki Sato (14) in the acting category, Risako Togano (14) in the music category, and Mari Tamashiro (15) for the multimedia award. No gravure award was handed out this time. However, three judges' prizes were awarded to Saeka Konishi (14), Ria Tamaki (12), and Kotomi Onaka (12).