Bandai Entertainment Leads with Most Nominations Followed by Viz Media, Geneon Entertainment, Bandai Visual and FUNimation Entertainment

Anaheim, California (March 27, 2008) ‹ The Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA), the overseeing body of the nation¹s largest anime/manga convention (Anime Expo®), announced the SPJA Industry Award finalists for 2008 at the SPJA Symposium held at Tokyo International Anime Fair held within Tokyo Big Sight¹s Special Theatre 2(Thursday; March 27, 2008; 16:30-18:00-Tokyo time). More information can be found on the website www.spja.org.

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According to Muhyojo, the latest issue of Kodansha's Morning revealed that the second volume of its Mandala magazine on March 21st. ANN has more:

Not only will this new 290-page volume be bigger (20 milimeters larger than A4 paper size, or roughly North American "Letter" size), but it will be in full color. 15 creators from eight countries contributed to this project, including 10 artists who returned from the first Mandala volume.

Also from ITmedia (via ANN) is the news that to celebrate the magazine's 50th anniversary, Konami will be making a game that will feature popular characters from Kodansha's Shonen Magazine and Shogakukan's Shonen Sunday.

Iranians and Israelis, Americans, Russians and Chinese, Europeans and Africans Gather to Say a "Good Word"

Hod Hasharon. Israel, February 25, 2008. BuzziNews is the world's first and only online journal reporting exclusively in cartoons. Cartoonists come together from around the world and communicate their positive message to a global audience. The portal has been online for 3 months and has already attracted world-renowned illustrators from 18 countries who have sent in their cartoons.

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Kodansha's 3rd Morning International Manga Competition is now accepting submissions. The deadline for the third competition is September 30th, 2008:

Submissions for the 3rd Morning International Manga Competition are now being accepted.

The deadline is September 30th,2008.

Professional artists are also welcome to this competition.

Besides manga, we accept all types of comics, including superhero comics, cartoons, and bandes dessine'es and so on.

The grand prize winner will receive $5,000, as well as having their work featured in Morning or Morning 2.

Kodansha's 2nd Morning International Manga Competition (M.I.M.C.) has announced the results of its initial screening, 31 works are selected, the final results will be announced in April.

The big (and free) exhibition looming on the horizon is MANHUA! CHINA COMICS NOW, from March 7th to April 11th at the London College of Communication, SE1. It's been a fantastic opportunity for me as curator to research this culture and work with some excellent experts to source both major mainstream hits and cult and underground alternatives, from mainland China as well as from Hong Kong and Taiwan. Details are on the site and much more info and images will follow soon:

http://www.paulgravett.com/events/manhua/manhua.htm

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From Comix Talk comes an interview with rem, winner of Kodansha's 1st International Manga Competition, and Eijiro Shimada, the editor of the Morning 2 magazine.

Also, The Star Online also talks to rem and Eijiro Shimada, as well as runner-up Lim Hwei Lin.

Source: MangaBlog

Manganovel, a service that offers Japanese manga downloads as well translations offered for sale by users to other users, is hosting the Manglish Contest:

Now Manganovel is hosting the Manglish Contest - Translate Manga Into English. Think up some cool translations of the dialog found in the contest pages on the Manganovel site. There are prizes to be won, with the best translation awarded an iPod touch. Entry is free, so have a go!

The contest began in October last year, the deadline for submission is the end of January 2008. Go here for more information on how to enter the contest.

Mantanweb has interviewed Keiko Takemiya, mangaka of To Terra..., regarding the Manglish Contest, Manga Jouhou has a translation of the interview:

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Anime! Anime! reports that the "Shojo Manga! Girls' Power!" tour will be traveling to four locations in Japan in 2008, including the Kawasaki City Museum between February 16 and March 30, and the Kyoto International Manga Museum from July 19 to August 31.

Source: ANN

Arab News has published an article on how for the first time, Saudi comics artists are invited to participate in Japan's Second International Manga Award, which will be held in Tokyo in the summer of 2008:

"We hope to see some Saudi artists in this year's contest," said Katsunobu Takada, head of the cultural section of the Japanese Embassy in Riyadh.