The Embassy of Japan and partners have again organised the now traditional annual Manga Jiman competition for new manga comics talent in the UK. The award ceremony is due to be held this Friday in the Japanese Embassy in London, where the final selection will be made. Competing for the top prize (a return trip to Japan) are:

Anya Zhuravskaya – ‘Storyteller Sisters’
Ami Clark – ‘The Flower That Held Its Breath’
Byron Reynolds – ‘Crash Course’
Dean McKnight & Jade Sarson – ‘Shear Brilliance’
Elena Vitagliano – ‘The Deep Needs Train’
Gillian Ha – ‘To The Girl With The Butterfly Ears’
Lorenzo Fruzza – ‘Heart’s Orbit’
Megan Wheeler – ‘A Harvest Love’
Rebecca Burgess – ‘Letters From England’
Sarah Burgess – ‘The Man and his Shadow’
Vivian Truong – ‘Moving On’

As is traditional now with the Manga Jiman competition, the work of all the shortlisted nominees will be displayed at an exhibit in the Embassy (101/104 Piccadily, W1J7JT) which will run from February 6th to 28th. The exhibition is open Monday to Friday, 9.30am to 5.30pm and is free to enter, although being in an Embassy building you will need some form of photographic ID for entry. Good luck to all the nominees and of course if you’re in the city during February do swing by the exhibition and give them all some support.

Yes, it’s approaching that time for the BAA – British Animation Awards – held every two years. While the BAFTAs has awards for feature and short animation only the BAA awards purely Brit-created animation and in numerous categories and those include the Public Choice selection. One of the aspects of the BAA I like is that the cinema audiences get a say in some of the awards and the Public Choice segment, covering a good variety of animation methods, from hand-drawn to stop motion to CG, is screening at cinemas around the country over the next few weeks, from animation created for music videos or ads (bread and butter work for most animators just as many comics artists also do illustation for ads, mags, campaigns etc) and short films taking in all sorts of subjects, from Fiona Geilinger‘s Wallpaper (a woman gives up on her individuality and slowly lets herself be absorbed into the fabric of her surroundings) to Barry JC Purves’ rather lovely Tchaikovsky – An elegy, to Kibwe Tavares‘ fab Robots of Brixton; short works covering subjects from overheard conversation in the pub to skateboarding, to animated work for music videos for the likes of Gorrilaz and Dry Riser, showcasing work from totally new talents, students and professionals.

Finish Post Production, RedBull Canimation and the Moving Picture Company are sponsoring the Public Choice segment of the BAA and you too can show some support for Brit animation talent (something we’re pretty damned good at) as well as enjoying watching some cool, unusual, innovative work by attending the screenings in over twenty cinemas around the UK – and no excuses for not knowing about them and missing them, because here the venues and screening dates:

Belfast Queens Film Theatre

Box Office: 028 9097 1097

Prog 1: Sun 5th Feb

Prog 2: Sun 5th Feb

Prog 3: Sun 5th Feb

Birmingham Custard Factory Theatre

0121 224 7777

Prog 1: 9th Feb

Prog 2:10th Feb

Prog 3:11th Feb

Bradford National Media Museum
Box Office: 0870 70 10 200
Prog 1: Fri 27th Jan

Prog 2: Sat 28th Jan
Prog 3: Thur 2nd Feb

Brighton Duke of York’s Cinema

Box office 0871 902 5728

Prog 1: Sun 5th Feb
Prog 2: Sun 12th Feb
Prog 3: Sun 19th Feb

Bristol Watershed

Box Office: 0117 927 5100

Prog 1: Weds 1st Feb

Prog 2: Weds 8th Feb

Prog 3: Weds 15th Feb

Edinburgh Filmhouse

Box Office: 0131 228 2688

Prog 1: Tues 24th Jan

Prog 2: Mon 30th Jan

Prog 3: Mon 6th Feb

Exeter Animated Exeter at Exeter Picture House

Box Office: 01392 667080

Prog 1: Fri 17th Feb

Prog 2: Sat 18th Feb

Prog 3: Sun 19th Feb

Falmouth Falmouth University

Box Office: 01326 313 388
Prog 1 Mon 6th Feb
Prog 2 Tues 7th Feb
Prog 3 Fri 10th Feb

Farnham Maltings

Box Office: 01252 745444

Prog 1: Tues 24th Jan

Prog 2: Tues 31st Jan

Prog 3: Tues 7th Feb

Glasgow Glasgow Film Theatre

Box Office: 0141 332 6535

Prog 1: Thurs 2nd Feb

Prog 2: Mon 6th Feb

Prog 3: Weds 8th Feb

London BFI Southbank

Box Office: 020 7928 3232

Prog 1: Thurs 9th & Sat 18th Feb

Prog 2: Fri 10th & Sun 19th Feb

Prog 3: Sat 11th & Fri 17th Feb

Liverpool FACT

Box Office: 01517074444

Prog 1: Mon 23rd Jan

Prog 2: Tues 24th Jan

Prog 3: Weds 25th Jan

Manchester Cornerhouse

Box Office: 0161 200 1500

Prog 1: Weds 1st Feb

Prog 2: Sun 5th Feb

Prog 3: Tues 7th Feb

Middlesbrough Animex

Prog 1: Tues 7th Feb

Prog 2: Weds 8th Feb

Prog 3: Fri 10th Feb

Newport Ffresh

Box Office: 02920 232 746

Prog 1: Mon 6th Feb

Prog 2: Mon 6th Feb

Prog 3: Tues 7th Feb

Norwich Cinema City

Box Office: 0871 704 2053

Prog 1: Mon 30th Jan

Prog 2: Mon 6th Feb

Prog 3: Mon 13th Feb

Plymouth Peninsula Arts Cinema

Box Office: 01752 585050

Prog 1: Tues 7th Feb

Prog 2: Weds 8th Feb

Prog 3: Thurs 9th Feb

Portsmouth University

Prog 1: Tues 7th Feb

Prog 2: Weds 8th Feb

Prog 3: Thurs 9th Feb

Staffs Staffordshire University

Prog 1: Mon 30th Jan

Prog 2: Thurs 2nd Feb

Prog 3: Fri 3rd Feb

There are some forty five films in the Public Choice segment to watch and vote on, and of course you can find out more on the BAA official site, while the actual awards will be announced on March 15th. I’ve been lucky enough to have access to some of the animated works and am happily working my way through them at the moment (a couple I recognise from animation shorts at the Edinburgh Film Fest last year); no doubt I’ll be posting some of my thoughts on some of the films in due course, but meantime remember for this part it is your votes and interest that count, so if you can then get down to the screenings near you and show some support for Brit creators.

As part of the First Fictions literary festival at the University of Sussex this weekend Myriad Editions (publishers of Rumble Strip among others good graphic works) had the First Graphic Novel competition. As we mentioned previously on the blog the nominees had been willowed down to a final shortlist of seven candidates, all of such high calibre that one of the judges, author Ian Rankin, told us that his fellow judge Bryan Talbot reckoned they were all worthy of publication, which is as high a compliment as I can imagine for the artists involved, very well done, all of them. But there can be only one, as the Highlander reminds us, and Ian (thanks, Ian) was kind enough to let us know that the winner is Gareth Brookes (no stranger to blog readers) for The Black Project, so big congrats to Gareth and to all involved for creating an award which highlights and encourages good, new comics talent in the UK. As we mentioned in previous posts the winning book will be published by Myriad in 2013, so there’s something else to look forward to. We’ve been talking to Myriad and, fingers crossed, we’re hoping to bring you a bit more on the competition in the near future.

The final seven nominees were:

Adam Blackman & Dylan Shipley: A Rat’s Tale

Gareth Brookes: The Black Project

Konstantinos Chrisoulis: Dryland

Hannah Eaton: Naming Monsters

Tom Eglington: Amber Sands

Thom Ferrier: The Enlightenment of Iwan James

Paula Knight: The Facts of Life

And the judging panel consisted of Ian Rankin, Steve Bell, Myriad’s Corinne Pearlman, Hannah Berry, Bryan Talbot and Ed Hillyer; the award was announced yesterday afternoon on the exotic south coast of England.

This weekend sees the First Fictions literary festival at the University of Sussex, in conjunction with the publishers Myriad Editions (home to graphic novel works like Woodrow Phoenix’s Rumble Strip and Darryl Cunningham’s upcoming Science Tales). The festival will also see the announcement of the winner of the First Graphic Novel Competition; as we mentioned a few weeks ago the original entries, which we’re told were of a very high calibre, have been whittled down to a final shortlist of seven nominees, with the ultimate winner to be announced this weekend. Work from the shortlist nominees will be exhibited at the festival and the winner will have their graphic novel published by Myriad in 2013. The judging panel consists of Bryan Talbot, Ian Rankin, Steve Bell, Myriad’s Corinne Pearlman, Hannah Berry and Ed Hillyer. The artists competing for the prize are:

Adam Blackman & Dylan Shipley: A Rat’s Tale

Gareth Brookes: The Black Project

Konstantinos Chrisoulis: Dryland

Hannah Eaton: Naming Monsters

Tom Eglington: Amber Sands

Thom Ferrier: The Enlightenment of Iwan James

Paula Knight: The Facts of Life

I see a couple of names in there that are already established faves with the blog crew for their own self-published work, some names I don’t know yet but look forward to getting to see some of their work further down the line. Obviously we’ll try to bring you news of who won as soon as we hear it, but if you are on the south coast please do go along and give them some support, there will be some top comics and books folks there, some damned good reading and initiatives of this sort encouraging new talent are always to be applauded and supported.

The Company Man by Robert Jackson Bennett (Orbit)

Deadline by Mira Grant (Orbit)

The Other by Matthew Hughes (Underland)

A Soldier’s Duty by Jean Johnson (Ace)

The Postmortal by Drew Magary (Penguin)

After the Apocalypse by Maureen F. McHugh (Small Beer)

The Samuel Petrovich Trilogy by Simon Morden (Orbit)

The Phil K is always a good indicator of hot new science fiction talent, although I’m dismayed to realise I haven’t actually read any of the nominees this year, that’s unusual for me, but even I can’t read everything (I do try though!). Although I do have Company Man and Deadline in my try to get these read pile and I did read Robert Jackson Bennett’s previous book, Mister Shivers, which was a simply superb slice of very unusual horror told on the dusty roads of Depression era America and is much recommended.

Best Writer – Mainstream
Geoff Johns (Aquaman, Green Lantern, Justice League)
Grant Morrison (Action Comics, Batman Incorporated)
Jeff Lemire (Animal Man, Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E., Sweet Tooth)
Jonathan Hickman (FF, S.H.I.E.L.D., Ultimate Comics Ultimates)
Scott Snyder (American Vampire, Batman, Detective Comics, Swamp Thing)

Best Writer – Independent
Brian Clevinger (Atomic Robo)
Cullen Bunn (The Sixth Gun)
Joe Hill (Locke & Key)
Nathan Edmondson (Who Is Jake Ellis?)
Nick Spencer (Morning Glories)

Best Artist – Mainstream
Adam Kubert (Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine, X-Men: Schism)
Esad Ribic (Ultimate Comics Ultimates, Uncanny X-Force)
J.H. Williams III (Batwoman)
Sara Pichelli (Ultimate Comics Spider-Man)
Yanick Paquette (Swamp Thing)

Best Artist – Independent
Craig Thompson (Habibi)
Duncan Fegredo (Hellboy: The Fury)
Gabriel Rodriguez (Locke & Key)
Mike Huddleston (Butcher Baker: The Righteous Maker, The Homeland Directive)
Nate Simpson (Nonplayer)

Best Ongoing Series
Detective Comics (Snyder/Jock/Francavilla; DC)
Green Lantern (DC)
Scalped (DC/Vertigo)
The Sixth Gun (Oni)
The Walking Dead (Image)

Best Limited Series
Criminal: Last of the Innocent (Marvel/Icon)
The Red Wing (Image)
The Rocketeer Adventures (IDW)
Who Is Jake Ellis? (Image)
Witch Doctor (Image)

Best Debut Book
Butcher Baker, The Righteous Maker (Image)
Daredevil (Marvel)
Kirby: Genesis (Dynamite)
Swamp Thing (DC/Vertigo)
Ultimate Comics Spider-Man (Marvel)

Best Original Graphic Novel
Habibi (Pantheon)
Infinite Kung Fu (Top Shelf)
Luchadoras (Blank Slate)
Nelson (Blank Slate)
Seeds (Com.x)

Best Publisher
Blank Slate
Dark Horse
DC
Image
Marvel

The seven shortlist nominees are:

Adam Blackman & Dylan Shipley: A Rat’s Tale

Gareth Brookes: The Black Project

Konstantinos Chrisoulis: Dryland

Hannah Eaton: Naming Monsters

Tom Eglington: Amber Sands

Thom Ferrier: The Enlightenment of Iwan James

Paula Knight: The Facts of Life

Candidates had to submit between 15 to 30 pages of a graphic work in progress for consideration. The winner will be announced at the First Fictions event, organised by the University of Sussex and Myraiad, on January 21st 2012 and work from the shortlisted entries will be showcased there too. The outright winner will have their graphic novel published by Myriad in 2013. Very nice to hear about this and to have another graphic novel prize to compiment the successful Cape/Observer/Comica graphic short story prize. If you’re one of the nominees do drop us a line if you have some of your work online, we’d love to get a peek!

From the shortlist for the 2012 edition of its annual award, the French ACBD (the Association of Comics Critics and Journalists) has given the prize (the Grand Prix De la Critique) to the graphic novel, Polina, by Bastien Vivès.  Earlier this year, the book was also awarded the Libraries Prize in France.

We wrote about Polina earlier.  Let’s hope that these accolades will prompt an English-language publisher to take up the risk of translating this acclaimed work into English (hint).

Incidentally, at the latest Japan Expo in Paris,  the Association also gave out its Asia award for Gerry Alanguilan’s Elmer, which is available in English and is much recommended.

As such I think the shortlist is quite different from the sort of comics award nominees we might often expect to see, but again this reflects what the young students are enjoying (plus the number of schools taking part has now leapt to 66 – well done, all!). The final shortlist comprises eight titles:

Star Wars: Blood Ties, by Tom Taylor and Chris Scalf

Gate 7, by CLAMP

Wuthering Heights (quick text version), adapted from Bronte’s novel by Sean M Wilson and John M Burns

FF Volume  1 by Jonathan Hickman, Steve Epting and Barry Kitson

Marineman: a Matter of Life and Death by Ian Churchill

Sita: Daughter of the Earth, by Saraswati Nagpal and Manikandan

Green Lanten: Secret Origin, by Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis

Chimighanga, by Eric Powell

The first awards were given out this summer, with first place going to Yana Toboso’s Black Butler manga, second to Bryan Talbot’s Grandville Mon Amour, with third place going to Young Kim’s graphic adaptation of Twilight. The awards will take place on July 6th, 2012.

At the Expocomic festival in Madrid, Spain, the winners of the 2011 awards were announced last week.   The lifetime achievement award went to Esteban Maroto, who is probably best known for his work for various Warren Publications magazines, such as Eerie, Creepy and Vampirella.  He is also credited with the design of Red Sonja’s famous (or infamous, depending on your point of view regarding the depiction of scantily clad buxom female warriors) metal bikini  in Savage Tales #3.

The award for best Spanish book and for the best Spanish creator went to El Invierno del Dibujante (The Winter of the Draftsman),by Paco Roca, which chronicles the early days of the comics industry in Spain.  Best new talent is Carlos Pacheco for his work on Ultimate Thor, while Nemesis by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven gets the award for best international work. Revelation of the year is Montse Martin for Curiosity Shop. And finally, the best online comic in Spain is the humorous fantasy comic, El Vosque – which is also available to read online in an English language edition as well as the original Spanish, so go and have a look.

(via La Cárcel de Papel)