The winner receives support from comic editors and the opportunity to publish comic serials in Japan
Kadokawa announced on Friday the new “World Without Words Manga Contest,” a contest to find comics without dialogue or text. The competition is open to participants worldwide and the “non-verbal” approach aims to accommodate all entrants regardless of language. The winner may have the opportunity to serialize the story in Japan.
Image provided by Kadokawa
Subscribers can participate from Friday through February 28 at 11:59 p.m. JST. The results will be announced in April 2025. Manga artists Ranmaru Kotone (your name.), Minoji Kurata (Apothecary's Diary) and Isuna Hasekura (Spice and Wolf) will judge the winning works prize.
There are two types. The first is a themed Manga Award that asks participants to create a story about the fictional character Don Quixote. The work may have an original story and setting, as long as it is related to Don Quixote. The second is the Original Manga Awards category for all stories and genres. The work may be monochrome or color and may be 8-60 pages long.
Manga editors will support winners in both categories to create manga at Kadokawa. In addition, Kadokawa's KadoComi website will publish the winning works. The winner will also be invited to the awards ceremony and editorial tour. For each category, there will be a first prize worth 10,000 USD. There is also a prize of $5,000 for second place and $3,000 for third place.
Source: Email correspondence
Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.