The 6th International Manga Award is being held to promote Japanese pop culture and to better the understanding of Japan among overseas cartoonists. A call for entries has been announced by the contest organizers, The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Japan.

One Gold Prize winner and three Silver Prize winners will receive all-expenses-paid trips to Japan to attend the awarding ceremony.

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 Both published and unpublished works are accepted as long as they have been produced in the past three years, and have not won any of the previous International Manga Awards.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 PO Box MBE 703, The Sixth International MANGA Award Executive Committee, Yanagiya Taiyo Building 1F, Nihombashi Muromachi 4-3-16, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 103-0022, Japan. Entries must be received on or before the 15th June 2012. For a complete list of rules and other details, visit manga-award.jp.

The winner of the 5th International Manga Awards was the collaborative effort “I Kill Giants” by Joe Kelly (USA) and JM　Ken Niimura (Spain).

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.