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Update (2007-01-12): Please check the official rules page for the most up-to-date information.

Celebrating the 25th anniversary of its manga anthology Morning, Kodansha has announced a new International Manga Competition to look for new manga talents from around the world.

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On December 22nd the Japan Post Office announced the 5th stamp series of its "Anime Heroes and Heroines series." The new series will be based on Neon Genesis Evangelion, and will be released on February 23rd next year. Each stamp will feature characters from Evangelion. A sheet of stamps comes with ten 80 yen stamps.

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ANN has announced the winner of its 2006 Holiday Logo Contest.

After ending in Weekly Shonen Jump issue 30 and having published its "final chapter" in Akamaru Jump, Masanori Morita's Beshari Gurashi will resume serialization in Weekly Young Jump issue 7, on sale January 18th, 2007.

In 2005 China's cell phone e-book market was estimated to be over 720,000 (around 92,000 USD) Yuan. According to reports, with the rapid growth of anime and manga in China, this year the market could be well over 31,660,000 yuan (around 4,000,000 USD), and in 2010 over 624,000,000 yuan (around 80,000,000 USD).

Source: Tech-ex

ICv2 reports that the former VP of Viz Media, John Easume, will now take on the role of the president of Viz Media Europe, which will be based in Paris. Easume will now maintain, or "oversee operations," in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East region.

On December 18th, Japan's largest online retailer Amazon.co.jp opened a new section on its website called "Otaku Store." The store, which specializes in anime, manga, games and figurine products, currently holds over 30,000 items. Otaku Store aims to increase sales of ACG (Anime, Comic, Games) products by providing a faster service for ACG fans.

It's worth noting that Amazon chose the word "Otaku," which has a negative connotation to Japanese fans, as the name of its store. One of the reason for such a name could be to attract more foreign shoppers. It remains to be seen whether the name of the new store will help drive sales for the new Japanese store.

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ICv2 announced the winners of its drawing for subscribers to the free daily ICv2 e-mail:

- Funhouse Games and More: Over $1,000 in Magic: The Gathering cards
- Jetpack Comics: Over $1,000 in graphic novels from Del Rey
- Tenthpenny: Over $1,000 worth of anime figures from Southern Island