The 14th Japan International MANGA Award
2020/7/10
Looking for a way to hone your manga skills?
The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced the 14th edition of its International Manga Award competition and is searching for stories told in 16 pages or over from manga creators outside of Japan. Winners in previous years of the competition have visited Japan to receive their prize where they met with publishers and artists, and visited manga-related museums and sites.The deadline for receipt of entries is Friday, 10 July 2020. However, published and unpublished work created within the last three years is accepted.
There are two ways to enter; entrants may either post two physical copies of their work to International Manga Award, Embassy of Japan, 101-104 Piccadilly, London W1J 7JT or send one copy of your entry as a PDF file by email to manga@ld.mofa.go.jp (if the file is larger than 10MB please contact us beforehand).
E-mail any queries you have to manga@ld.mofa.go.jp.
Application Guidelines and Entry Form can be found on this webpage, and the best entries from previous years can be seen here.
Inspired to create your own manga? A selection from around the web on how to make manga comics the focus of lockdown
Please note these links contain those to third parties not affiliated with the Embassy of Japan.
You can read through the previous winning entries to the Embassy’s Manga Jiman competition on webtoons! Available either one the webtoons app, or via your browser. The winning entries from the 2019 competition are being uploaded now, so stay tuned for new releases.
You can also get to know the competition more through the Manga Forum podcast, which includes interviews with the judges of the competition. Now is also a great time to go back through and listen to old episodes of the podcast.
If you are just beginning your journey into manga creation, or know someone who is, there is a free book available created by a young artist, and aimed at other younger artists to get you started! You can find out more on this article from Down the Tubes.
If you are active on facebook, why not consider the Comica Social Club? A club dedicated to the discussion of comics, that regularly arrange virtual meet ups during lockdown.
Lastly, you may have heard that in Japan, comic artists and creative people have been making their own ‘Amabie’ (ah-ma-bi-eh), a spirit or ghost that is said to ward off illnesses. The character has become a symbol of hope in the country. On our Manga Jiman facebook page, we are asking UK artists to have a go at drawing their own Amabie, and sharing it with us! You can find out more about the story here.
Don’t forget to follow the Manga Jiman competition on Facebook and Twitter, for more content, ideas and links to keep you up to date with manga in the UK.
You can read through the previous winning entries to the Embassy’s Manga Jiman competition on webtoons! Available either one the webtoons app, or via your browser. The winning entries from the 2019 competition are being uploaded now, so stay tuned for new releases.
You can also get to know the competition more through the Manga Forum podcast, which includes interviews with the judges of the competition. Now is also a great time to go back through and listen to old episodes of the podcast.
If you are just beginning your journey into manga creation, or know someone who is, there is a free book available created by a young artist, and aimed at other younger artists to get you started! You can find out more on this article from Down the Tubes.
If you are active on facebook, why not consider the Comica Social Club? A club dedicated to the discussion of comics, that regularly arrange virtual meet ups during lockdown.
Lastly, you may have heard that in Japan, comic artists and creative people have been making their own ‘Amabie’ (ah-ma-bi-eh), a spirit or ghost that is said to ward off illnesses. The character has become a symbol of hope in the country. On our Manga Jiman facebook page, we are asking UK artists to have a go at drawing their own Amabie, and sharing it with us! You can find out more about the story here.
Don’t forget to follow the Manga Jiman competition on Facebook and Twitter, for more content, ideas and links to keep you up to date with manga in the UK.