At the Kodansha House editor’s panel on October 7, 2025, Kodansha announced the development of a new manga award, coming “early 2026” that would welcome international submissions.
To become a published manga creator in Japan, most creators start by submitting one-shots (complete short comics) to awards competitions held by the magazine they want to be published by. Winners and runner-ups can be introduced to editors, who will work with the creator to submit story ideas for potential serialization in the magazine. However, almost all of these awards require submissions to be in Japanese.
In recent years, manga publishers have become more interested in finding international talent, with Shueisha opening up a monthly manga award platform for English and Spanish-speaking creators on MangaPlus and Kadokawa conducting an international wordless manga contest this past year.
At the Kodansha House presentation, the editors discussed how Kodansha magazines have published several mangaka from outside Japan already, both paired with Japanese writers and not. For example, Kraken Mare by Izu and Hagane, published by Monthly Afternoon, is created by a French writer and an Italian artist, both with extensive experience in the French comics industry.
The “mochikomi” event held earlier in the day was an invitation-only chance for aspiring mangaka to show Kodansha editors their work. Submitted comics were translated into Japanese and interpreters were available to help the creators discuss their work with editors and ask them questions about how to be published in Japan.
English (US) · 