News
Kingdom Wins 17th Tezuka Osamu Prizes' Top Award
posted on by Egan Loo
The winners for the 17th Annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prizes were revealed on Monday.
Grand Prize
Kingdom Yasuhisa Hara
Shueisha (Weekly Young Jump magazine)
This historical manga is set in China's Spring and Autumn Period of Warring States. It follows a boy who aims to be a great general, as well as the king of Qin who will eventually become China's first emperor. The manga inspired a television anime whose second series will premiere on June 8. Funimation has been streaming the first series in North America.
New Creator Prize
Sunny Sunny Ann! Miki Yamamoto (Bakudan ni Ribbon)
Kodansha
The manga follows a woman named Ann on her solo road trip by car.
Short Work Prize
Kikai-jikake no AiYoshiie Gōda
Shogakukan (Big Comic magazine)
This is an omnibus of stories about robots with hearts, such as a pet girl robot whose owner has gotten tired of her and a caretaker robot who gets freedom through a human's last will and testament.
Hitoshi Iwaaki's Historie won last year's Grand Prize, while Yu Ito's Shut Hell won the New Creator Prize. Roswell Hosoki's Sake no Hosomichi and other titles and a copy of Weekly Shonen Jump magazine shared by over 100 children after the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake (Higashi Nihon Daishinsai) disaster won the Short Work Prize and Special Prize, respectively.
This year's nominating committee — which includes novelist Atsuko Asano, manga creator Keiko Takemiya, manga creator Gō Nagai, manga editor Haruyuki Nakano, and Kyoto Seika University professor Jaqueline Berndt — selected from among the works that were published from January to December of 2012.
The newspaper awards a 2-million-yen (about US$20,000) Manga Grand Prize along with a statuette of Tezuka's Mighty Atom (Astro Boy) character. In addition, 1 million yen (US$10,000) goes to each of the winners of the New Artist Prize, Short Work Prize, and the Special Prize every year. The actual awards presentation ceremony will take place on May 31.
Source: Comic Natalie
