Celsys

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Celsys officially opens the International Comic/Manga School Contest 2022 for students worldwide, accepting illustrations and comics on the theme of Journey. School registration begins on November 1, with entries from students to be accepted from December 1. This worldwide contest limits eligibility to students, giving enthusiastic young artists in countries where the privilege of studying comic creation or having their works published is not as abundant a chance to learn new techniques and be in contact with influential media organizations.

Many Japanese and international companies in the comic industry have endorsed the contest. Ten companies, including SHUEISHA, KADOKAWA, Kodansha, BookLive, LINE Manga, Wacom, pixiv, Ki-oon, Dupuis, and L SEVEN have signed on as Gold sponsors with six other Silver sponsors and operational support from NGOs such as The Japan Cartoonists Association, Manga Japan, and the Digital Manga Association.

Prize winners will have chances to have their entries published in sponsors’ media outlets. In addition to the Manga and Comic categories, there are many chances to win in the five comic-related categories in total, including the Bande Dessinée, Webtoon, and Storyboard categories, where students draw a comic according to an assigned manuscript.

International Comic/Manga School Contest 2022
https://www.clipstudio.net/promotion/comiccontest/en/
 
Starting in 2018 as a contest for European artists, the International Comic/Manga School Contest is now in its fifth year. Last year, the contest garnered over 1,500 compelling entries from 1,245 participating schools in 85 countries and regions. The contest accepts entries regardless of language, so expects a wide variety of entries from many countries and regions. The contest, targeted at current students, is a rare opportunity for future professional comic artists to make contact early in their careers with media organizations around the world.

The judging panel for this year’s contest will be led by DC Comics artist Javier Fernández and include other professional creators and sponsors. The contest sets itself by providing the winning entries with detailed and specific critiques from the judging panel, which give not only the winners, but also other students, a springboard to improve their skills. Previous winners have made comments including “It is such an honor to have received so many compliments, comments and useful advice from so many notable people” and “The advice from judges was very useful and it gave real meaning to my participation in the contest.”

The winning entries will be translated into English, French, Spanish, German, Japanese, Traditional Chinese, and Korean for readers all over the world to enjoy.

Through these events, Celsys, together with leading figures in comic culture both in Japan and across the globe, continues to support young creators aspiring to become professional artists.


International Comic/Manga School Contest 2022
Submission Categories
Entries will be accepted for the following six categories.
Original Comic/Manga/Bande Dessinée Categories
An original comic (color), manga (black-and-white/color), or bande dessinée (color) for all ages (8-16 pages, including cover).

Webtoon Category (Color)
An original webtoon for all ages (sized 800 x 40,000-144,000 pixels or a height ratio of 50 to 180 for an image 800 pixels or less when the width is set to 1).

Storyboard Category
A 4-16 page manga, comic or webtoon drawn according to the supplied manuscript.

Illustration Category
An original color illustration for all ages - no size requirements.

Theme:
Journey (All Categories)

Schedule
School Registration: Nov 1, 2021 (Mon) - Mar 15, 2022 (Tue) 09:00 GMT
Submission Period: Dec 1, 2021 (Wed) - Apr 8, 2022 (Fri) 09:00 GMT
Results announced: Early July 2022

How to Apply
A teacher or member of school staff must register on behalf of the school or program in order for students to be eligible. Students will need to enter this school ID when submitting their artwork.
Please see here for more information.
https://www.clipstudio.net/promotion/comiccontest/en/

Awards and Prizes
Comic/Manga/Bande Dessinée/Webtoon Categories
Overall Grand Prize (1 Winner)
US$3,300 cash prize 
The new Wacom Cintiq Pro (DTH167) with redefined accuracy in a compact design
Cross-platform painting tool, Clip Studio Paint EX (single-device, 3 years)

Category Award (1 winner per category)
US$1,700 cash prize
Wacom One Creative Pen Display (DTC133W0D)
Clip Studio Paint EX (single-device, 3 years)

Runner-up (3–5 winners)
Clip Studio Paint EX (single-device, 3 years)

Storyboard Category
Grand Prize (1 winner)
US$2,200 cash prize 
Wacom One Creative Pen Display (DTC133W0D)
Clip Studio Paint EX (single-device, 3 years)

Runner-up (3–5 winners)
Clip Studio Paint EX (single-device, 3 years)

Illustration Category
Grand Prize (1 winner)
US$550 cash prize 
Wacom One Creative Pen Display (DTC133W0D)
Clip Studio Paint PRO (single-device, 3 years)

Runner-up (3–5 winners)
Clip Studio Paint PRO (single-device, 3 years)

Judges
In addition to the internationally renowned professional creators, one judge each from SHUEISHA, KADOKAWA, Kodansha, LINE Manga, Wacom, Ki-oon, and L SEVEN will participate on the judging panel.

Gold sponsors

SHUEISHA
https://www.shueisha.co.jp/english/
SHUEISHA is a Japanese publisher that publishes manga, fashion magazines, and literary books. They have published comic magazines such as Weekly Shonen Jump, Weekly Young Jump, Ribon, Margaret, and Bessatsu Margaret. They have also published internationally renowned comics such as One Piece.
We also provide manga apps like Shonen Jump+, Manga Mee, Young Jump! and ZEBRACK.


KADOKAWA
https://group.kadokawa.co.jp/global/
An all-around entertainment company, KADOKAWA, runs a wide range of businesses in publishing, videos, games, web services, education, merchandising, intangible services, and inbound sales. The company’s free comic site, Comic Walker, features popular KADOKAWA manga. It boasts more than 3,500 titles ranging from mixed-media works to popular isekai comics.


Kodansha
https://www.kodansha.com/
Comics, novels, culture, journalism, fashion, picture books, anime, games - Kodansha has developed an all-around publishing business that creates and makes “stories” from all genres public, together with talent from across the world. As well as publishing a range of comic magazines for all ages, from Weekly Shonen Magazine, Young Magazine, and Nakayoshi, the company also runs the Magapoke and Comic DAYS manga apps.


BookLive
https://booklive.jp/
Since its establishment in 2011, BookLive has been one of the largest comprehensive e-book stores in Japan, with a selection of around one million books, including manga, novels, novellas, and magazines. BookLive focuses its efforts on the user experience with unique promotions like a coupon gacha to the highly acclaimed bookshelf function and multiple payment options. There are over 10,000 titles available to read for free without even needing to register for an account! Check out BookLive!’s easy-to-use interface with a free title. The company also produces original e-books, aiming to create titles that capture the hearts and minds of the smartphone manga generation.


LINE MANGA
https://manga.line.me/
LINE MANGA is an e-comic service where users can enjoy a number of manga titles on their smartphones and tablets. Since its launch in 2013, it now offers more than 700,000 titles, including over 700 original, exclusive, or preview titles that can only be read on the service. LINE MANGA is now putting its efforts on vertically scrolling, color digital comics, known as webtoons, that are especially suited to be read on smartphones.


Wacom
https://www.wacom.com/
Pioneer of pen and display tablets made for creatives, used to create the world’s most exciting digital art, films, special effects, fashion, and design.
Click here to learn more about educational use.
→https://www.wacom.com/en-us/education


pixiv
https://www.pixiv.net/
A social network for creators that makes getting creative even more fun! With over 71 million users worldwide, more than 100 million illustrations, comics, and novels have been posted. New, fun projects for illustrators, manga artists, and writers pop up every day.


Ki-oon
http://www.ki-oon.com/
Ki-oon is a French publishing house founded in 2003 by two people who love Japan. They are currently the fourth largest publisher in France, publishing "My Hero Academia," "Jujutsu Kaisen," "A Bride's Story," "Prophecy," "BEASTARS," and many more. In addition to purchasing licenses, they also produce and publish original works in a variety of genres.
These works are initially published in France and then licensed for worldwide distribution. For instance, “Tsugumi Project” and “Lost Children” are published in Japan through licensing to Kodansha and Akitashoten.


DUPUIS
https://www.dupuis.com/
Dupuis is a Belgian publisher with over 100 years of history, and the main creator of many great Franco-Belgian comic heroes, such as Spirou, the Marsupilami and Gaston Lagaffe, to name a few. It is also known as the publishing house with the most diverse library in Europe, with titles in teen & young adult comics, manga, webtoons, graphic novels, news and many other genres.


L SEVEN
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100074036343622
A webtoon production and distribution company.
Major works include “The Great Mage who returned after 4,000 years”, “Tomb Raider King,” “Omnicient Reader,” and “The Twins’ New Life.”


Silver sponsors

FUNGUILD
https://funguild.jp/
A comic book publisher with a mission to "bring FUN to life through the power of stories," FUNGUILD plans and edits original comics that resonate with their readership of girls, women, and young men, making them available via various Japanese and worldwide online comic sites.


Solmare Publishing (NTT Solmare Corp.)
https://www.nttsolmare.com/e/
NTT Solmare Corp. runs "Comic c'moa," one of the largest e-book websites in Japan, through its e-manga editorial department "Solmare Publishing." As well as adapting a vast number of properties, they provide full support to new artists to help them create smash hit works.


Planeta Cómic
http://www.planetacomic.com/
Planeta Cómic, part of Grupo Planeta, was created in 1982. It offers a wide range of shonen manga such as Dragon Ball, My Hero Academia, Naruto, One Piece and Haikyu, as well as kodomo, seinen, shojo, yuri and BL manga works. It also has its own successful magazine: Planeta Manga.
The Star Wars books and other independent works form part of its North American offering, deserving of special mention. Also noteworthy is its collection of graphic novels, including titles such as Nada, Voces que cuentan and From Hell.


Mangatari
https://www.mangatari.co.jp/
We are a Manga Artist Entertainment Production company with a vision to create the stage where the next generation of manga artists can be active and accelerate the evolution of Japanese manga. Working closely with manga artists' careers, we push the envelope on manga as an artform. For companies, we provide services such as the Original Story Advertising Manga "Orist" service, which produces manga for commercials. We also deliver manga to publishers through our Team-based Serialization and Comic Production "Manpro" business.


Amutus Corporation
https://www.amutus.co.jp/en/
Mecha Comic, one of Japan's largest e-book sites, plans and produces with its production partners the original brand "Mecha Comic Original," which is distributed on e-book sites in Japan and abroad. 
Note: Books are sold under the Amucomi brand in bookstores other than Mecha-Comic.


Tapas Media
https://tapas.io/
The leading digital publisher of webcomics and novels, Tapas is a pioneer mobile storytelling platform with more than 8.7 billion views to date from more than 9M registered users reading 99,000 series by 64,000 creators.


Collaborators

SHOGAKUKAN
https://japanesebooks.jp/en/
SHOGAKUKAN is a general publishing company that publishes magazines such as comic magazines, children's magazines, information magazines, women's magazines, books and picture books. The comic magazine genre covers a wide range of readers from boys and girls to adults, such as CoroCoro Comic, Weekly Shonen Sunday, Sho-Comi, and Big Comic. The company also runs the comic app, Manga One, which has been downloaded over 20 million times.


POCKET COMICS
https://www.pocketcomics.com/
Pocket Comics is a manga/novel app that features a vast collection of vertically scrolling, full-color manga. In addition to the Korean, Thai and Vietnamese versions, the English version of the app is available in Taiwan, the United States, and other English-speaking countries, having been downloaded more than 35 million times worldwide.


EVER GLORY PUBLISHING CO.,LTD.
https://www.egmanga.com.tw/
Founded in June, 1991, Ever Glory Publishing Co., Ltd. has mainly had educational- and entertainment-oriented children’s books published and distributed. It once gained authorizations from SHOGAKUKAN, Kodansha, SHUEISHA, and Akita Shoten to issue comic in Chinese versions in Taiwan. Moreover, local cartoonists cultivated by the company are widely recognized nowadays and bring the eyes of the world to the international comics market.


SILENT MANGA AUDITION®
https://www.manga-audition.com/
One of the biggest international manga competitions, exclusively without dialogue. It is organized by COAMIX Inc., a manga publisher founded by iconic creators such as Tetsuo Hara and Tsukasa Hojo. The competition aims to discover, nurture, and publish the next generation of international manga creators through exclusive opportunities, such as the MasterClass and Kumamoto-based Artists Village projects.


Tokyo name tank
https://nametank.jp/
Our goal is to support everyone in creating their own manga while having fun drawing it. We have produced many award-winning and debut artists. In addition to storyboard lessons that cover how to structure a complete 32-page storyboard, we also hold individual consultations and storyboard exchange sessions to answer concerns about the creation of comics.


Cork Co., Ltd.
https://corkagency.com/
A creator agency whose mission is to change each and everyone’s world through the power of storytelling. The agency aims to create a world where comics can shine brightly, where excitement is generated from creators and fans connecting directly and building a model for entertainment in the Internet age that goes beyond traditional publishing and distribution.


Supporters

Japan Cartoonists Association
https://www.nihonmangakakyokai.or.jp/
The Japan Cartoonists Association was established in December 1964 as the only nationwide organization of Japan's manga artist at that time and became an Incorporated Association in 1985 before becoming a Public Interest Incorporated Association in 2014. It is engaged in a variety of projects, such as research on comics, efforts in popularizing comics and comics culture, and comics cultural exchange with other countries.


Manga Japan
https://www.manga-japan.net/
Manga Japan is an organization that aims to promote the development of manga culture and artists, contribute to society through the manga industry, promote international exchange, and improve production environments for manga authors and others involved in the industry.


Digital Manga Association
http://www.dg-manga.com/
The Digital Manga Association is an organization of volunteers established to explore creative technologies for the creation of digital manga and comics and research copyright issues caused by digitization.


Operational Support

Graphixly LLC.
https://graphixly.com


Toutlemonde Production Co., Ltd.
http://toutlemondeprod.com/


Organizer

CELSYS,Inc.
https://www.clipstudio.net/en/


CELSYS,Inc.
Celsys continues to support creators to create artistic content with digital technology.
Celsys provides solutions for content creation, distribution, and browsing, including support of creative activities through the “Clip Studio Paint” app for illustration, manga and animation production, as well as the “Clip Studio” web service, and the “Clip Studio Reader” e-book solution.

Corporate site: https://www.celsys.co.jp/en/
Clip Studio Paint site: https://www.clipstudio.net/en/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clipstudioofficial/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/clipstudiopaint
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/celsys.clipstudiopaint/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CLIPSTUDIOPAINTchannel

Contact
For media
Pacific Marks Shinjuku, 4-15-7 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo Japan 160-0023
Email: press@artspark.co.jp

For Companies
https://www.celsys.co.jp/en/clipsolution/