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24th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Nominees Announced

The Asahi Shimbun paper announced the eight nominees for the 23rd Annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize on Friday. The awards commemorate the contributions of the manga pioneer Osamu Tezuka (Astro Boy/Mighty Atom, Kimba the White Lion/Jungle Emperor, Phoenix, Black Jack) by recognizing the manga that best follow his tradition.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
Koyoharu Gotouge
Shueisha

Kodama Maria Bungaku Shūsei
Yoshiharu Mishima
LEED Publishing

Ulna at the Emplacement (Jūza no Ulna)
Tōru Izu
Kadokawa

SPY×FAMILY
Tatsuya Endō
Shueisha

Nyx no Lantern
Kan Takahama
LEED Publishing

The Blue Period.
Tsubasa Yamaguchi
Kodansha

Sarissa of Noctilucent Cloud (Yakō Kumo no Sarissa)
Miki Matsuda, ※Kome
Tokuma Shoten

A Brief History of Robo sapiens (Robo sapiens no Zenshi)
Shimada Toranosuke
Kodansha

This year's committee – consisting of actress Anne Watanabe; author Kazuki Sakuraba; manga creators Osamu Akimoto, Machiko Satonaka, and Tarō Minamoto; professor and scholar Shōhei Chūjō; manga critic Nobunaga Minami; and author and manga researcher Tomoko Yamada – selected the nominees from titles recommended by specialists and bookstore employees. To be eligible, the manga had to have had a compiled volume published in 2019.

Asahi Shimbun will announce the winners in late April, and will host an awards ceremony in Tokyo on June 4.

Last year, 11 titles were nominated, and Shinobu Arima's Jitterbug The Forties (Sono Ko, Jiruba) won the Grand Prize. Sansuke Yamada's Areyo Hoshikuzu won the New Creator prize, and Ken Koyama's Little Miss P (Seiri-chan) won the Short Work Prize.

Sources: PR Times, Comic Natalie