Asahi Shimbun Publishing has teamed up with the online artist community Pixiv to hold the "Asahi Horror Comic Awards" this summer.

The panel of judges, which is headed by none other than Junji Ito, the king of the horror manga world, is looking for both "real" horror comics based on real experiences and horror comics based on fictional premises. Original scenarios and novels will also be accepted.

The winner of the grand prize will receive a cash reward and the winning work will be published in the comic magazines HONKOWA and Nemuki+. Moreover, they will be assigned an editor and will be considered for serialization in both magazines.

Looking for the scariest comics!

If you can come up with extremely scary material, then upload it to Pixiv and submit it for consideration.

In the HONKOWA Division, the panel is looking for manga based on your own "real experience" or a "real experience" that you heard from someone you know. In the Nemuki+ Division, they're looking for manga based on your own original idea for a scary story. Entries in the 原作 gensaku (original work) category should be novels or scenarios based on a scary story, regardless of whether it is a true story or not.

Four judges

The judges for this year's contest are four people who are well versed in horror.

First of all is the inimitable Junji Ito 伊藤順二, whom we had the pleasure of interviewing last year. Known as "king of the horror manga world," Ito will serve as the head judge for the awards. Junji Ito's representative works include the Tomie series, Uzumaki and Sōichi series. His work Remina won the Best U.S. Edition of International Material (Asia), while Remina and Venus in the Blind Spot, a collection of short stories, won the Best Writer/Artist in the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards earlier this year. Moreover, his story Hanging Balloons became a topic of conversation on Twitter last month thanks to an art project featuring a giant floating head in Tokyo.

Other judges include manga artist Akiko Hatsu 波津彬子. Her representative works include 「雨柳堂夢咄」(Uryūdō Dream Tales), 「唐人屋敷」(Chinese Residence) and the 「うるわしの英国」(Beautiful England) series.

The third judge is Mr. Hiroyuki Goto 後藤博幸, General Producer of the 「ほんとにあった怖い話」("Scary Stories That Really Happened") series airing every year on Fuji Television Network.

Finally, rounding out the panel is Mr. Hyo Nen 馮年, a development team leader at the Visual Image Division of Toho Corporation.

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Visit the following links for the manga category and the gensaku category.