The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Japan is issuing a call for entries from overseas cartoonists to the 9th International Manga Awards. Gold and Silver Prize winners will receive all-expenses-paid trips to Japan to attend the awarding ceremony.

To join, simply print and 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 Both published and unpublished works are accepted as long as they have been produced in the past three years, and have not won any of the previous International Manga Awards.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 335, The 9th International MANGA Award Executive Committee, 1F MOF Kanda Iwamoto-cho Bldg, 3-8-16 Iwamoto-cho, Chiyoda-Ku, Tokyo, Japan 101-0032. Entries must be received on or before the 12th June 2015. For a complete list of rules and other details, visit manga-award.jp.

The winner of the 8th International Manga Awards was “Bumbardai” by Nambaral Erdenebayar from Mongolia. This is the first time that the Gold winner came from Mongolia.

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.