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Akimi Yoshida's Umimachi Diary Wins 6th Manga Taisho Award

Creator Akimi Yoshida (Banana Fish) received this year's Manga Taisho (Cartoon Grand Prize) for her Umimachi Diary series. The manga follows three sisters who live in the seaside city of Kamakura. They learn of the death of their father, years after he divorced their mother and left the family. At their father's funeral, they meet their half-sister for the first time.

Yoshida launched the manga in Shogakukan's Monthly Flowers magazine in 2006, and Shogakukan published the fifth volume last December. The manga was nominated in the award's first year in 2008, but garnered only third place that time.

Yoshida thanked everyone for the award this year, "I was so surprised. After all, I didn't expect it at all. I'm doing my best and creating my works, so I'd like for lots of people to know about it and read it. I think this award will be the trigger to that, so I am extremely honored." She then mentioned a possible adaptation of the manga, "Talks of a visual adaptation have come, but technically, I am not involved, so I cannot say anything..."

She drew the following illustration upon receiving the award:

Unlike many other manga prizes which are chosen by the editors of the manga publishers themselves, the Manga Taisho nominating committee is mostly composed of the bookstore staffers who are in charge of their respective stores' manga sections. The awards are also limited to works published last year with eight or less volumes to promote relatively newer works. The committee nominated 11 works this year.

Shinichi Ishizuka won the first ever Manga Taisho for his Gaku - Minna no Yama work in 2008, and Mari Yamazaki and Chica Umino won the next awards for their Thermae Romae and March comes in like a lion manga, respectively. Last year, Hiromu Arakawa received the honor for her Silver Spoon manga.

Manga Taisho 2013 Final Results

Umimachi Diary
Akimi Yoshida
89 points
The Bride's Stories
78 points
Kaoru Mori
Ballroom e Yōkoso
Tomo Takeuchi
78 points
Hi Score Girl
Rensuke Oshikiri
62 points
Ore Monogatari!!
Story: Kazune Kawahara
Art: Aruko
58 points
Assassination Classroom
Yūsei Matsui
40 points
Kui Ryōko Sakuhin-shū: Seven Little Sons of the Dragon
Ryōko Kui
36 points
Ningen Karimenchū
Taeko Uzuki
35 points
Terra Formars
Story: Yū Sasuga
Art: Kenichi Tachibana
30 points
Sanzoku Diary
Kentarō Okamoto
29 points
Bokura no Funka-sai
Keigo Shinzō
29 points
Source: Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web

Update: Name typo corrected. Thanks, Wooga