The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Japan has announced a call for entries to the 5th International Manga Awards from 21 July to 31 August 2011. The International Manga Award was established to promote Japanese pop culture and to better the understanding of Japan among overseas cartoonists.

One Gold Prize winner and three Silver Prize winners will receive all-expenses-paid trips to Japan to attend the awarding ceremony and meet with Japanese manga artists and publishing executives.

The winner of the 4th International Manga Awards was “Si loin et si proche” by Xiao Bai from Belgium. Previous winners of the International Manga Awards from the Philippines include Elmer Damaso and Jhomar Soriano whose individual works were selected as Finalists in 2007’s 1st International Manga Awards, and Bronze Prize winner Kriss Sison from 2008’s 2nd International Manga Awards.

To join, simply fill out this entry form and submit two copies of your original manga. The manga should be at least twenty four (24) pages long when printed and bound. Both published and unpublished works are accepted as long as they have been produced in the past three years, and have not won any of the previous International Manga Awards.

Please send entries to P.O. Box MBE 125 — The Fifth International MANGA Award Executive Committee, Tokyo Toranomon Building 1F, Toranomon 1-1-18, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0001, Japan. Entries must be received on or before the 31st August 2011. For a complete list of rules and other details, you can visit manga-award.jp, or the MOFA website.