If you've missed the 1st run of Global Comic Awards this year, now's your 2nd chance to join! [ New Deadline: July 1, 2024, 6:59pm GMT/UTC -- previously June 30.]
Clip Studio Paint's CELSYS, in cooperation with Tapas, is holding the 2nd Global Comic Awards in 2024.
The first one's with Pixiv which was announced back in January. Deadline for that was the end of March, and as of the time of writing this post, the entries are now still being judged.
We are super grateful for this 2nd chance!
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Since this one is for vertical-scrolling webcomics instead of traditional manga, we are soooo joining -- albeit, individually this time, instead of as a group.
It's a little tricky though because even if any genre is welcome, they're asking for a short story only which has a minimum of 15 panels and maximum of 75 panels, and anything between 1-5 chapters.
But there's a caveat of it being open for serialization.
So that means having a very compelling prologue that can stand as a whole story in itself, but should not totally end yet, just a cliffhanger for the next episodes.
Related: What Makes You NOT Drop a Webcomic
And the theme for this 2nd contest is The Last Train.
Unlike the 1st contest which was divided into 2 categories: free-for-all (anything goes) and themed one (theme: Time), now it's just 1 category and theme and a more challenging one at that!
How do we interpret The Last Train?
Neither Tapas nor Clip Studio Paint clarified how we should approach the theme, so we're just gonna go ahead and interpret it as being given the "last" chance to jump on board, which is the whole vibe of this contest too.
It's up to us what our characters will do if the last train is right in front of them.
Are they gonna immediately hop right in, chase it until they get in, or remain on the sidelines and be suspicious of where this train is headed in the first place?
Unlike with usual contests where part of the criteria is 20-60% popularity or number of likes, this one is gonna be judged by the Tapas staff based on merit alone: how good the art style is and the quality of the overall story -- which are all green flags for us.
That means it's fair for those who don't have a big following on social media yet, and those who will take more time to produce the webcomic well, instead of rushing to submit it at the earliest possible in hopes of getting a higher view count and gaining more likes.
No bullying or overhyping involving rate-bombing either as well.
Although to be fair, it's been confirmed that Webtoon ratings do NOT have a major impact on both readers and the algorithm. We use the thumbnail and the first 3 chapters as the basis for whether we'll read or not.
Even the ratings in MyAnimeList, I don't trust anymore, and just use the poster and trailer in deciding whether I'll watch the anime or not.
Ratings overall are just vanity metrics these days and are highly inaccurate.
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So what are the prizes?
Grand prize: $3,300 + 3-year subscription to Clip Studio Paint EX (single device only)
2nd - 3rd place: $1,000 + 3-year subscription to Clip Studio Paint EX (single device only)
10 excellence award winners: $120 + 1-year subscription to Clip Studio Paint EX (single-device only)
Winners will be announced on July 22, 2024.
🖊️ FREE Clip Studio Paint EX codes good for 3 months (or 6 months if you're using Samsung Galaxy)! Claim here until May 30, 2024 only, or here (anytime; affiliated through CJ, earns commissions at no extra cost to you:3).
Aside from that, anyone joining -- not just the 13 winners -- will have the chance for their webcomics to be read by veteran Japanese manga editors and be considered for debut and translation by their respective publishers (i.e. JUMP!, Kadokawa, and many more).
But you still have the right to decide whether to agree on any exclusive publishing contract or not. If ever you win, you won't be forced to accept a publishing contract -- which is great for those planning to grow their own Patreon (or already have a thriving community and sustainable income there from their past works) and those who wanna eventually self-publish in Amazon KDP for instance.
I'm still confused about whether publishing on Webtoon CANVAS and others is allowed because, despite that fine print, they stated in their FAQs that it should only be published in Tapas during the contest and judging period. So that's what we intend to do just to be safe, although we might publish our contest submissions here in this blog too (heh!).
We're also allowed to use characters from our current/prior works if we intend to have a tight Marvel-like universe in our webcomics series.
Unlike my friend who's gonna totally start from scratch and submit a brand new series, I was initially thinking of using my 3 main characters in my current webcomic, and this short story will be something like an anime OVA.
But since I've been also planning to create a new webcomic that's more casual, school life, and tightly focused on romance instead of supernatural detective stuff (with just romance on the side lol), I'm also considering just starting that right away -- 2 birds, 1 stone, yeah?
Then perhaps, switch the tagging from Finished to Ongoing after the contest?
I don't know, we'll see.
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Anyone within and outside the US and Japan can join, but the webcomic must be in English.
Also make sure it has this series tag: GlobalComicAwards2024_LastTrain
More info here.
Good luck everyone!~ ✨
*Update: 6/25/2024: This post contains affiliate linkies for Clip Studio Paint which earns us commissions for any successful purchases at no additional cost to you :)
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