Kimuchi Yokoyama's Nekodarake Nice , Kyoto Int'l Manga Museum also honored

The Japan Cartoonists Association of manga creators announced the winners of the 41st Japan Cartoonist Awards on Friday. Eiichiro Oda's One Piece pirate manga (pictured right) and Kimuchi Yokoyama's Nekodarake Nice cat manga (pictured below) won this year's 500,000-yen (about US$6,000) Grand Prizes.

Oda has been drawing the exploits of the rubber-bodied captain Monkey D. Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates in One Piece since 1997. One Piece has broken or made many records, including most recently, the first series of any book category to sell over 100 million books in Japan since 2008. Nekodarake Nice is Yokoyama's acclaimed third manga book that follows three cats without words or dialogue.

The judging committee also gave a 200,000-yen (US$2,500) Special Award to the Kyoto International Manga Museum for its contributions to manga culture. Kyoto Seika University took a shuttered elementary school in the heart of Kyoto and transformed it into a museum and center for manga studies.

The Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award went to shōjo and modern science-fiction manga pioneer Keiko Takemiya in recognition for her entire body of work and her other efforts. In addition to creating such acclaimed manga as Kaze to Ki no Uta and To Terra (Terra e), Takemiya has been an instructor at Kyoto Seika University.

The prizes will be awarded at a ceremony in Tokyo's Imperial Hotel on June 22. The judging committee included Anpanman creator Takashi Yanase, Space Battleship Yamato/Space Pirate Captain Harlock creator Leiji Matsumoto, Furiten-kun creator Masashi Ueda, and Lady Ann creator Machiko Satonaka. Help Man creator Riki Kusaka, Rakuga creator Kamakiri Uno, Manga Koshien competition's Kōchi Prefecture, Mainichi Kaa-san creator Rieko Saibara, and They Were Eleven and A Drunken Dream creator Moto Hagio won last year's awards.

Source: Sankei via Hachima Kikō