Production I.G opened applications for its first "Production I.G Indies Anime Award" on Monday. The contest is aimed at uncovering talented new faces for the industry, though it is open to professionals as well as amateurs.

Entries will stream in an "indies section" on Production I.G's Anime Beans app, marking Production I.G's first time streaming indie anime. Viewers will be able to show their support for the entries they like by commenting or by using the "applause" feature.

Viewer support will be taken into account when the judges choose the winners. Works that do very well will be upgraded to an "official" work on the app, meaning the studio will then help with production costs and share profits with the creator. Production I.G will hire "famous voice actors for these projects and provide the creators with advice from established creators.

There will be one grand prize winner who will receive 1 million yen in prize money, five excellence award winners who will receive 500,000 yen, and 10 effort award winners who will receive 100,000 yen. All winners except the grand prize winner will also receive a software bundle including Clip Studio Paint Pro, Moho Pro 12, and corresponding informational guides. One "Wacom Award" winner will receive the software plus a Wacom Intuos Pro Medium tablet.

All winners will also get a studio tour and an invitation to a round table discussion with Production I.G president Mitsuhisa Ishikawa and company director Takayuki Gotō.

Applications will be accepted from July 23 to September 30.

Last year, Production I.G's parent company IG Port announced a series of contests called "Project Bigship." Each company under IG Port held separate contests, with Production I.G holding a contest for its "Tate Anime" (Vertical Anime) app, which was the predecessor of Anime Beans. The contest had five "vertical" winners.

While Tate Anime focused on three-minute shorts that were presented vertically for smartphones, Anime Beans offers both horizontal and vertical anime of various lengths. As such, the new contest is open to both horizontal and vertical anime, and entries must be between one and 15 minutes long. Flash animation and CG animation are accepted, as are works that are already available streaming elsewhere. There are no genre restrictions.

Sources: Production I.G website, Anime! Anime! Biz