With the concept, "The manga you want your friends to read", the Cartoon Grand Prize (aka Manga Taisho) will be held again this year to choose the most interesting manga from among the latest titles. Entering 2012, the Cartoon Grand Prize committee posted the competition schedule, together with the latest updates, on its official website.
The evaluation process begins January 1st, and ends January 13th. To be eligible for the competition and enter the preliminary stage, a manga must have been published between January 1st, 2011, and December 31st, 2011, and must not exceed eight volumes in length. Each judge can nominate up to five entries, from which the top ten are chosen. The nominations will be announced on January 16th.

At the second selection process, each judge will personally read all ten entries before naming the top three. The title to gain the most votes wins the grand prize. An award ceremony will be held in Tokyo in late March to announce the winner.

While the Cartoon Grand Prize is a relatively new award--with this being the fifth competition to date--it has already gained considerable focus and attention. Two major factors are credited for this achievement: The first is the unique guidelines of the competition. By limiting the competition to titles with no more than eight volumes, new, untried titles have a chance of being noticed. The second is that the judges' panel is made up of manga enthusiasts in various fields---rather than the normal panel of authors and manga editors--giving the competition a fresh and unique twist.

The Cartoon Grand Prize has gained credibility for its choices, and titles that are awarded usually go on to gain a large following. "Gaku" (by Shinichi Ishizuka) won the first year, "Chihayafuru" (by Yuki Suetsugu) the second year, "Thermae Romae" (by Mari Yamazaki) the third year, and "March comes in like a lion" (by Chika Umino) the fourth year.

Of these titles, "Gaku" was adapted into a live-action film, "Chihayafuru" into a TV anime series, and "Thermae Romae" was made into both a live-action film and a TV anime series, clearly indicating how highly the Cartoon Grand Prize is regarded by the movie and anime industry.

Cartoon Grand Prize (Manga Taisho)
http://www.mangataisho.com/