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40th Japan Cartoonist Awards Honor Moto Hagio
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
The Japan Cartoonists Association of manga creators announced the winners of the 40th Japan Cartoonist Awards on Tuesday. Riki Kusaka's Help Man! (pictured at right), and Kamakiri Uno's Rakuga and other works won this year's 500,000-yen (about US$6,000) Grand Prizes. Help Man!, a story about a nursing care worker for the elderly, runs in Kodansha's Evening magazine, while Uno's works are on display at the Ikebukuro Engeijyo theater in Tokyo.
The judging committee also gave a 200,000-yen (US$2,500) Special Award to Kōchi Prefecture for its efforts to support manga. Similar to Japan's Koshien high school baseball tournaments, Kōchi hosts the Manga Koshien competition in which high school students strive to win prizes by drawing manga.
The President of the House of Councilors Award went to Rieko Saibara for her Mainichi Kaa-san slice-of-life manga (pictured at left). The manga has been adapted into an anime series that has been airing since 2009. The anime is currently being streamed on the media-distribution website Crunchyroll.
The Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award went to shōjo and modern science-fiction manga pioneer Moto Hagio (A Drunken Dream, A, A', They Were Eleven) in recognition for her entire body of work. Fantagraphics published A Drunken Dream and Other Stories in North America last year. Previously, Viz Media published A,A' and They Were Eleven, while Fantagraphics' The Comic Journal published her "Hanshin" short story along with an interview in a special shōjo manga issue. They Were Eleven was eventually made into an anime movie of the same name which Central Park Media distributed in North America.
The prizes will be awarded at a ceremony in Tokyo's Imperial Hotel on June 10. The judging committee included Anpanman creator Takashi Yanase, Space Battleship Yamato/Space Pirate Captain Harlock creator Leiji Matsumoto, Furiten-kun creator Masashi Ueda, and Lady Ann creator Machiko Satonaka. Shinya Shokudō's Yarō Abe, The Legend of Mother Sarah/Mibu Gishi Den's Takumi Nagayasu, four-panel manga creator Aōni Yamane, and Honey & Honey's Hideko Mizuno won last year's awards.
Source: Sankei
