The Japan and Anime Association NYC announced on Monday that it will host its first American Manga Awards. The new ceremony will take place at the Japan Society's Lila Acheson Wallace Auditorium in Midtown Manhattan on August 22, the night before this year's Anime NYC event kicks off. The American Manga Awards will honor manga authors and publishers who have made significant contributions to the popularity of manga, both in North America and Japan.
Image via Anime NYC Items
including Best New Manga, Best Continuing Manga, Best Translation, Best Lettering, Best New Classic Manga Edition, Best Publishing Design,. Mangaka Hall of Fame and Manga Publishing Hall of Fame.
A panel of judges will select the nominees for each category. Translators and authors Matt Alt (Pure Invention: How Japan's Pop Culture Influenced the World) and Hiroko Yoda (Yokai Attack!) will select the Best Translation nominees. Comics letterers Tom Orzechowski (Uncanny X-Men) and Nate Piekos (The Essential Guide to Comics Lettering) will select the Best Lettering nominees. The latter also contributed to the logo design of the American Manga Awards. Kinokuniya Booksellers East Coast Regional Director Shiegkazu Watanabe and publication designer Sasha Head are deciding on the nominations for Best Edition Design. Brigid Alverson (ICv2, School Library Magazine), Shaenon Garrity (Otaku USA, Weekly Publishing), Minovsky (@MinovskyArticle), New York Public Library Senior Librarian-Renee Scott of Devoted Services for Young Adults and ANN's Lynzee Loveridge are selecting the nominees for Best New Manga, Best Continuing Manga and Best New Version of a Classic Manga.
The American Manga Awards will announce nominations in the categories of manga design, translation, lettering and publishing in July. Professionals working in the editorial field of North American comic publishers will nominate votes to determine the winner. Frederik L. Schodt, translator and author of Manga! Story! The Japanese manga world will be the first recipient of the Manga Publishing Hall of Fame award.
Deb Aoki (Publishers Weekly, Comics Beat, Mangasplaining podcast) leads the American Manga Awards Planning Committee. Translator and author Matt Alt, who is also a judge, will chair the event.
The invitation-only ceremony will be held for manga industry professionals and press.
Anime NYC 2024 will take place August 23-25. The event will take over the entire main building of the Javits Center for the first time in 2024. Ticket sales begin on December 5.
Disclosure: ANN executive editor Lynzee Loveridge is serving as a judge for the American Manga Awards.
Source: Press release
