The Asahi Shimbun newspaper announced the winners for the 21st Annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize awards on Tuesday.
The newspaper awards a 2-million-yen (about US$20,000) Manga Grand Prize along with a statuette of Tezuka’s Mighty Atom (Astro Boy) character.
Last year, the judging committee nominated seven titles, and Kei Ichinoseki’s Hanagami Sharaku won the Grand Prize.
The committee awarded the Special Prize to Osamu Akimoto for his Kochikame manga, which he ended in September of last year after four decades of serialization.