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ANIME NYC AND JAPAN SOCIETY ANNOUNCE NOMINEES FOR THE 2ND ANNUAL AMERICAN MANGA AWARDS

Written by

Andre “donth8dre” Augustin

Andre “donth8dre” Augustin

Anime NYC and Japan Society announced today the 35 nominees for the 2nd annual American Manga Awards, set to take place on August 21, 2025, at the historic Japan Society in New York City. The ceremony includes major manga publishers and retailers, including Kinokuniya, Kodansha USA Publishing, Seven Seas Entertainment, VIZ Media, Yen Press, and more participating.

This event is held in conjunction with this year’s Anime NYC convention, the largest Japanese pop culture event on the East Coast, which expects to draw over 100,000 fans of anime and manga from all over the world to the Jacob K. Javits Center in midtown Manhattan from August 21 – 24, 2025.

The American Manga Awards celebrate outstanding achievements in the world of Japanese comics, honoring professionals who have significantly contributed to manga’s popularity in both North America and Japan. These awards aim to elevate outstanding manga creators, great manga stories, and the publishing professionals who make these stories accessible to readers in the US and Canada.

VIZ Media, one of North America’s leading publishers and distributors of manga and anime, is the Gold Sponsor ofthe 2025 American Manga Awards. Home to iconic series such as One Piece, My Hero Academia, and Naruto, VIZ Media’s support underscores its commitment to uplifting the global manga community and celebrating the creators, translators, designers, and publishers. In addition, the American Manga Awards is also fortunate to have the support from industry sponsors such as Mad Cave Studios and Saturday AM.

The American Manga Awards Hall of Fame honors Japanese manga creators and publishing professionals who have made significant contributions to the growth and popularity of manga in America. The 2025 recipient of the Manga Publishing Hall of Fame Award will be Studio Proteus, the pioneering manga translation and publishing team that helped introduce manga series like Blade of the Immortal, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Ghost in the Shell, Oh! My Goddess, What’s Michael and so much more to English language readers in North America and around the world.

Founded in San Francisco, California, in 1986 by visionary editor and entrepreneur Toren Smith, Studio Proteus included an all-star cast of manga translators, editors, artists, and lettering professionals who are all comics publishing legends. Translators Dana Lewis, Alan Gleason, and Frederik Schodt, along with manga artist/lettering master Tomoko Saito, comics creator Adam Warren, and comics lettering masters Tom Orzechowski and L. Lois Buhalis were all part of the Studio Proteus collective. Together, they created the blueprint and the foundation for the English language manga publishing industry as we know it today.

In addition to the Hall of Fame honorees, the nominees for the other awards were selected by subject matter experts in manga, Japanese-to-English translation, lettering, and publication design. Five nominees were selected in each of these six categories: Best New Manga, Best Continuing Manga Series, Best New Edition of Classic Manga, Best Translation, Best Lettering, and Best Publication Design.

In this second year, the American Manga Awards received over 375 entries from 30 different publishers. Publishers were allowed to submit up to 3 titles per category for consideration, and judges were also able to nominate individual titles that they felt were noteworthy.

“It’s exciting to see works from debut creators along side new volumes from long time fan favorites, all brought to life through the efforts of translators, editors, letterers, and designers, who win awards for their amazing work,” said Deb Aoki, American Manga Awards committee chair.  “These awards are our way of honoring that full creative chain and spotlighting the people who help manga resonate so deeply with English-language readers.”

The winners will be determined by votes from professionals working in an editorial capacity with North American (US/Canada) manga publishers, who have either registered to vote via the American Manga Awards website or have been invited by the American Manga Awards Planning Committee. Voting will not be open to the general public.

Voter registration for the American Manga Awards is open now until July 21, with voting open until July 24. All who are involved in manga publishing in Japan, the US, or Canada are welcome to register to vote, with detailed guidelines for eligibility and voting procedures available on AnimeNYC’s website. Approved voters will receive an email with voting instructions shortly after registering.

The nominees for the 2025 American Manga Awards are:

BEST NEW MANGA

BEST CONTINUING SERIES

BEST ONE-SHOT MANGA

BEST NEW EDITION OF CLASSIC MANGA

BEST LETTERING

BEST TRANSLATION

BEST PUBLICATION DESIGN

For more information about the American Manga Awards and to stay updated on the latest announcements, please visit www.animenyc.com/americanmangaawards/ and follow Anime NYC and Japan Society on social media.

In addition to the American Manga Awards, returning this year to Anime NYC is the highly anticipated Educator & Librarian Friday Programming Track. Qualifying educators and librarians can apply for a Free Friday Professional badge in order to attend this curated track of educational programming as well as networking events. Professionals can also earn CTLE credits for attending select panels. Find out more at https://animenyc.com/librarians/.