New possibilities generated by auditions chiefly judged by works

Of the 283 entries we received this year, 35 works were shortlisted for the final screening sessions. As with previous years, the decisions for the Grand Prize and Excellence Prizes changed many times during the sessions; the entries were all so good that it seemed any could deserve a prize. The opportunity to read such high quality and engrossing manga was one of the chief privileges of being a jury member. Some of the entries, such as the one that contained some particularly brutal images and made the reader want to cover his eyes, or the one that employed an experimental scroll-like drawing style, were noticeable. However, we could not quite be convinced of the necessity of these factors, which was a shame, as it meant the full meaning was not fully conveyed to all of the jury members. Of the self-published manga, which is supposed to be a growing means of manga publication, digital manga, which both employ new media, we found disappointingly few that were remarkable. We have high hopes for them in the future.