A Hong Kong artist has won Japan’s International Manga Award — the “Nobel Prize of Manga” — honoring creators living abroad whose work helps to spread the artform worldwide.
Sun Zi’s Tactics, by 43-year-old Lee Chi Ching, beat out 145 other entries from 26 countries for the inaugural award, sponsored by Japan’s Foreign Ministry.
Lee and the three runners-up will receive a certificate and trophy at a ceremony on July 2, and will spend 10 days in Japan meeting with artists and publishers. The runners-up were Kai, 26, from Hong Kong, Benny Wong Thong Hou, 30, from Malaysia, and Madeleine Rosca, 28, from Australia.
Rosca is the creator of Hollow Fields, for Seven Seas Entertainment.
The submissions were judged by a committee that included manga creators Tetsuya Chiba, Machiko Satonaka and Takashi Yanase, and former editors of manga magazines.
