Manga Jiman 2016 Competition Closes Soon, “Sights of Japan” theme

By John Freeman on October 14, 2016

Artwork by 9th Manga Jiman winner Luca Fruzza

Rats. Apologies to our regular readers, but I’ve totally missed mentioning this year’s Manga Jiman competition – the Embassy of Japan‘s quest to find the best creators of comic short-stories, celebrating its tenth year.

The competition, which unfortunately closes on 24th October 2016 so you’ll need to get drawing fast, has two categories; Yonkoma Manga, a comic strip of 4 panels on one page, for entrants aged between 11 and 13 (see details below) and Manga Jiman, a short story told across six to eight pages for anyone aged 14 or over.

Entrants for both sections of the competition are asked to create a story referring to this year’s theme ‘Sights of Japan’. Your story does not need to be set in Japan but must make a reference, written or visual, to a location or everyday scenes / imagery of the country.

Winners and runners-up will receive superb prizes and will have their artwork displayed in a special exhibition at the Embassy in 2017.

So what is the Embassy of Japan looking for? Drawings of characters with big eyes and crazy hair? Not necessarily. The judges are looking for originality, good storytelling, artistic ability and style. If you read winning entries from previous years here you will see a variety of styles and innovations.

• Full details of the competition and how to enter are here on the Embassy of Japan web site

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.

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