KADOKAWA WORLD MANGA CONTEST Results Announced 1,959 Entries from 118 Countries and Regions Winners to Receive Serialization Support, with Award Ceremony Planned in Japan

Gold, Silver, and Bronze Prize Works Available Free on KADOCOMI

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Tokyo, Japan - KADOKAWA CORPORATION has announced winners of its international manga contest, “KADOKAWA WORLD MANGA CONTEST”, on the official website (https://kadokawaworldmanga.com/jp/).
A total of 11 winning works were selected, including Cry or the witch will come by Syo.Era (Vietnam-based) and Cells Within the Body. by Eli Lin (Taiwan-based), which received the Gold Prizes in the “Manga With Dialogue” and “Wordless Manga” categories, respectively.

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This contest was held with the aim of providing creators around the world with opportunities to showcase their work, while fostering the creation of new IPs. It drew 1,959 submissions from 118 countries and regions — far surpassing its predecessor “Wordless World Manga Contest”, which received 1,126 submissions from 104 countries and regions.

The winning works were selected by KADOKAWA’s editorial departments, which awarded Gold, Silver, and Bronze prizes. Additionally, five works were selected as Honorable Mentions in recognition of their future potential. In addition to cash prizes, the editorial teams involved in the selection process will provide support — primarily through online communication — to help winners prepare their new works for commercial publication in Japan. Furthermore, Gold, Silver, and Bronze prize winners will be invited to Japan to attend the award ceremony.
All six works that received the Gold, Silver, and Bronze prizes will be available to read for free on KADOCOMI, KADOKAWA's manga portal site, beginning at 11:00 a.m. JST on Friday, May 29. (Available in Japanese only)

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“Manga With Dialogue” Category - Prize Winners

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[Gold Prize]

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[Silver Prize]

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[Bronze Prize]

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[Preview] “Manga With Dialogue” Category - Gold Prize Winner
Cry or the witch will come

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* Continue reading on KADOCOMI
* This work was originally submitted in English/French and has been translated into Japanese for publication.

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“Wordless Manga” Category - Prize Winners

[Gold Prize]

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[Silver Prize]

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[Bronze Prize]

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[Preview] “Wordless Manga” Category - Gold Prize Winner
Cells Within the Body.

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* Continue reading on KADOCOMI

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Honorable Mentions

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Comment from the Organizer (Noboru Segawa : the Chief Editor of the World Manga Editorial Section)

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This year marked the second edition of the competition, following the inaugural Wordless World Manga Contest. With the addition of new categories and an expanded scale, this year’s contest once again highlighted the passion, quality, and above all, the genuine respect overseas manga creators have for Japanese-style manga.
Out of 1,959 submissions received, nearly 300 works made it through the final selection stage, making the judging process both lengthy and demanding. At the same time, having the opportunity to read through such a large number of works was an enjoyable and rewarding experience for us as editors. We would like to once again express our sincere gratitude to everyone who submitted their work.

Each of the 11 award-winning entries demonstrated clear creative strengths with the potential to impact the manga market, while still leaving room for further growth and development. Individual comments on each work will be shared during the award ceremony planned for this summer. Every year, we feel more strongly that the boundaries between manga styles are disappearing in a positive way.
The award winners came from a wide range of regions, including North America, Europe, Southeast Asia,  East Asia, and Latin America. In many cases, however, we could not tell where the creator was from until we checked their country of origin. We believe this reflects how manga has become more freely accessible around the world, while opportunities to study manga creation techniques have also become increasingly available. The contest also served as a strong testament to the growing number of manga creators worldwide.

We hope to hold a third edition of the contest in the future and look forward to sharing more details when the time comes. We also hope you look forward to seeing this year’s award winners make their manga debut in Japan.

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Overview of KADOKAWA WORLD MANGA CONTEST

This international manga contest was held as a scaled-up successor to the “Wordless World Manga Contest” held in 2024-2025. As in the previous contest, submissions were accepted for the “Wordless Manga” Category, which features works without dialogue, with the addition of a newly established “Manga With Dialogue” Category accepting works with dialogue in five languages: Japanese, English, Spanish, French, and Traditional Chinese.

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- Submission Period :
November 28, 2025 (Friday) - March 31, 2026 (Tuesday)

- Number of Entries Submitted :
1,959

- Participating Countries & Regions :
118

- Participating Editorial Departments :
B's-LOG （ビーズログ）/ SYLPH（シルフ） / kadocomi（カドコミ） / Global Comic（グローバルコミック） / REGULUS（レグルス） / Alive（アライブ）  / CUNE（キューン ） / ASUKA（あすか） / GENE（ジーン） / World Manga（海外マンガ） / BEAM（ビーム） / Dengeki Maoh（電撃マオウ）

- Prizes :
Gold Prize 10,000 USD / Silver Prize 5,000 USD / Bronze Prize 3,000 USD / Honorable Mentions  300 USD

- Official Website URL :
Japanese : https://kadokawaworldmanga.com/jp/
English : https://kadokawaworldmanga.com
Spanish : https://kadokawaworldmanga.com/es/
French : https://kadokawaworldmanga.com/fr/
Traditional Chinese : https://kadokawaworldmanga.com/tw/

- Official Instagram :
@kd.worldmanga.official (https://www.instagram.com/kd.worldmanga.official/)

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Overview of KADOKAWA WORLD MANGA ATELIER

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KADOKAWA continues to support overseas creators through its creative support project, KADOKAWA WORLD MANGA ATELIER (KWMA), which includes initiatives such as the international manga contest “KADOKAWA WORLD MANGA CONTEST,” the online submission site “Online Portfolio Review MOCHIKOMI,” and “OnSITE Portfolio Review,” where editors provide hands-on feedback on manga works.
Guided by its corporate mission — “To become a creative platform that connects the world’s talent with the power to move people” — KADOKAWA will continue to collaborate with talented overseas creators, driving the creation of new IP and accelerating the development of content that transcends borders and languages.

- Website URL:
https://kadokawaworldmanga.com/

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About KADOKAWA CORPORATION

KADOKAWA Group, a comprehensive entertainment company, develops a wide range of businesses such as Publication, Animation, Film, Gaming, Web services, and Education/EdTech. We discover talent globally, create diverse IP (Intellectual property), and deliver it through various media. We maximize the value of IP under our strategy “Global Media Mix with Technology” which refers to global rollouts of created IP by utilizing technology.
https://group.kadokawa.co.jp/global/​

PRESS CONTACT
Group Advertisement and Publicity Section, Advertisement and Publicity Department, KADOKAWA CORPORATION
E-mail: pr-group@ml.kadokawa.jp

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