Abby Denson's Dolltopia: 4th Annual International Manga Bronze Award Winner

Last week the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the winners of the 4th Annual International Manga Award. The International Manga Award – the “Nobel Prize of manga” was created by Former Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso to recognize the efforts of non-Japanese manga influenced artists worldwide.

Here’s the full list of winners:

The 4th International MANGA Awards

Gold Award winner:
Si loin et si proche…(Belgium) Xiao Bai

Silver Awards winners:
Face cachée (France) Olivier Martin , Sylvain Runberg
La Isla sin Sonrisa (Spain) Enrique Fernández
“The story begins with …” (Thailand) Verachai Duangpla

Bronze Awards winners:
Dolltopia (America) Abby Denson
Kylooe (Belgium) Little Thunder
Pandora Book (Thailand) Akekarat Milintapas
The Little Polar bear (Taiwan) Chang Fung-Chih
The Passionate Sword (Taiwan) Yeh Yu Tung and Syu Shu Hao
Samurai (Belgium) Frédéric Genet and France’s Jean-François Di Giorgio

The Beat would like to extend a hearty congrats to all the winners for garnering such esteemed recognition in the notoriously export only Japanese market – particularly to Brooklyn’s own Abby Denson for taking home a Bronze. Denson is one of only two Americans to win the award since it was announced in 2007. Denson says it’s “an honor to have my work recognized by veteran manga artists, editors, and the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs! Their diverse choices demonstrate that they’re not judging based on a superficial “manga” art style, but a truly global definition of manga as comics art form.”

Next up for Denson is France’s Angouleme Comics Festival where she’ll be tabling with French comics magazine, Scarce, and fellow American cartoonists Molly Crabapple and Tim Fish. The crew will be guest blogging about their Angouleme adventures over at Bleeding Cool.