American Manga Awards honor creators at Anime NYC

The third annual American Manga Awards were held at the Japan Society in New York City in conjunction with Anime NYC. The ceremony celebrated creators, publishers, and localization teams responsible for manga released in North America.

Key award winners included ‘Billy Bat’ by Naoki Urasawa and Takashi Nagasaki, which won Best New Manga. ‘The Summer Hikaru Died’ (vol. 6) by mokumokuren took home the award for Best Continuing Manga Series, while ‘Cocoon’ by Machiko Kyo won Best One-Shot Manga. The ‘Mushishi’ Collector’s Edition was recognized as the Best New Edition of Classic Manga.

Special honors included the American Manga Award of Distinction presented to Akiko Higashimura, creator of ‘Princess Jellyfish’. The Manga Publishing Hall of Fame inducted Chigusa Ogino of Tuttle-Mori Agency and the late Ioannis Mentzas, co-founder of Vertical, for their contributions to the Western manga market.