His genius was recognized when his novel, Lishan Farm, won second prize in the China Literary Award Contest in 1956. The first thing Li-ho wanted to do was to share his glory and ecstasy with his wife.
民國四十五年，鍾理和作品的價值終於獲得了肯定，他的作品「笠山農場」，獲得中華文藝獎金委員會長篇小說第二獎（第一獎從缺），一時文名大噪。