1st American Manga Awards Announces Nominees – Interest

Japan Society and Anime NYC announced the nominees for the first American Manga Awards on Tuesday. The award categories and their respective nominees are as follows:

• Tomoko Saitō, lettering and retouch work for Blade of the Immortal Deluxe Edition Volume 10 (Hiroaki Samura, Dark Horse Comics)
• Phil Christie, lettering and retouch work for Search and Destroy Vol. 1 (Atsushi Kaneko, Fantagraphics Books)
• Vadim K., lettering for They’ll Make a Man Out of You (Shiwasu no Okina, J18 Publishing)
• Lys Blakeslee, lettering for Witch Hat Atelier (Kamome Shirahama, Kodansha USA Publishing)
• Rebecca S., lettering for Tokyo Interstellar Immigration vol. 3 (Mado Guchimoto, VAST Visual)

• Phil Balsman, design for Initial D Omnibus (Shūichi Shigeno, Kodansha USA Publishing)
• Nicky Lim, cover design and Karis Page, lettering and interior design for My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness: Special Edition (Nagata Kabi, Seven Seas Entertainment)
• Adam Grano, design for My Name Is Shingo (Kazuo Umezu, Viz Media)
• Nicky Lim and Sandy Grayson, box set design for Orange Complete Box Set (Ichigo Takano, Seven Seas Entertainment)
• Andrea Miller, cover design for Tokyo Aliens (NAOE, Square Enix Manga & Books)

Translators and authors Matt Alt (Pure Invention: How Japan’s Pop Culture Influenced the World) and Hiroko Yoda (Yokai Attack!) selected the Best Translation nominees. Comic letterers Tom Orzechowski (Uncanny X-Men) and Nate Piekos (The Essential Guide to Comics Lettering) picked the Best Lettering nominees. The latter also contributed to the American Manga Awards’ logo design. Kinokuniya Bookstores East Coast Regional Manager Shiegkazu Watanabe and publication designer Sasha Head decided the Best Publication Design nominees. Brigid Alverson (ICv2, School Library Journal), Shaenon Garrity (Otaku USA, Publishers Weekly), Minovsky (@MinovskyArticle), New York Public Library Senior Librarian – Young Adult Services’ Renee Scott, and ANN’s Lynzee Loveridge picked the nominees for Best New Manga, Best Continuing Manga, and Best New Edition of Classic Manga.

Professionals working in an editorial capacity with North American manga publishers will vote to determine the winners. Frederik L. Schodt, translator and author of Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics, will be the first recipient of the Manga Publishing Hall of Fame award.

The new ceremony will take place at Japan Society’s Lila Acheson Wallace Auditorium in Midtown Manhattan on August 22, the night before this year’s Anime NYC event begins. The American Manga Awards celebrate manga creators and publishers who have made significant contributions in manga’s popularity, both in North America and Japan.

Deb Aoki (Publishers Weekly, Comics Beat, Mangasplaining podcast) leads the American Manga Awards Planning Committee. Translator and author Matt Alt, who is also a judge, is hosting the event.

The invite-only ceremony will be held for manga industry professionals and press.

Anime NYC 2024 will take place on August 23-25. The event will take over the full main building of the Javits Center for the first time in 2024. Ticket sales began on December 5.

Disclosure: ANN’s executive editor Lynzee Loveridge is serving as a judge for the American Manga Awards.

Source: Press release

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