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NEWS: No Grand Prize Winners, Honorable Mentions Announced for 7th Kyoto Animation Awards


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Ali07



Joined: 01 Jun 2014
Posts: 3333
Location: Victoria, Australia
PostPosted: Fri May 20, 2016 7:21 am Reply with quote
CapNatsukiSan wrote:
The judges take their job quite seriously. In order for a title to earn an award now, the submission has to be of notable quality. No prizes will be given merely for prizes to be given out; they have to be earned. That aspect seems to fall flat in the US, where “there must be a winner” applies. The Kyoto Animation Awards are not the only competition where a winner may not be awarded. Many publishers in Japan run contests where there may not be awards handed out. This does not make the contest a fraud (especially when it costs only postage to enter), it merely makes the competition stricter than those in the US. (Got that in your heads yet?)

Simple way for me is, the set up for these awards isn't "best of the bunch". Which is a format that some are more accustomed to, and which may be why some question this competition.

As for the fraud bit, clearly there are people that view it as an issue, but it's nothing to do with the entrance. And, it is all speculative. As many question what happens with those works that get anime adaptions, the amount of money that comes with that for the original creator, and the question of why a work can get an anime but not win an award.
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Mr. Oshawott



Joined: 12 Mar 2012
Posts: 6773
PostPosted: Fri May 20, 2016 11:24 am Reply with quote
What's the point of KyoAni running this contest if they won't choose a winner for their grand prize? Confused Oh, well, at least three novelists winning is better than having no winners at all...
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crx07



Joined: 21 Sep 2015
Posts: 162
PostPosted: Sat May 21, 2016 1:08 am Reply with quote
TarsTarkas wrote:
If they have only awarded the big award only one time in seven years, then they just might as well stop this contest. If serious artists who actually spend the time and money to make a great package feel that they will never win, they will not waste their time.
Now the contest just feels like a scam, used to find new talent and ideas, rather than an award contest.
You need to read the comments by @ultimatemegax, @CrowLia, @Hoppy800, and @Dab1za9 because those comments give nice insights.
You don't know anything about this contest. This is not a your mere award contest. Do you think the writers want to submit their works to KyoAni just to win the contest? It's a yes if the writers are just interested in money. But to the serious writers? No! They do it because they know KyoAni will PUBLISH their works if they win, and may even give it an anime adaptation. So, even the writers know the "scam". And those writers are not your professional kind of writers, they are amateurs, since only amateurs are allowed in the contest.
After reading those comments, I think what KyoAni Awards did is just playing the lotto and losing and losing every year. And when they get a consolation prize, it's a Myriad Colors Phantom World type of prize.
This contest benefits the amateur writers big-time because their works can be reviewed by professionals for FREE (as far as I know). And because of this, KyoAni Awards consistently receives junk submissions from aspiring (delusional) writers and KyoAni is just wasting their time, money, and energy in finding a hidden gem that does not really exist.
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crx07



Joined: 21 Sep 2015
Posts: 162
PostPosted: Sat May 21, 2016 1:12 am Reply with quote
Mr. Oshawott wrote:
What's the point of KyoAni running this contest if they won't choose a winner for their grand prize? Confused Oh, well, at least three novelists winning is better than having no winners at all...
They are searching for quality works for publishing. This is not your mere contest.
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Ali07



Joined: 01 Jun 2014
Posts: 3333
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PostPosted: Sun May 22, 2016 3:10 am Reply with quote
#844903 wrote:
This contest benefits the amateur writers big-time because their works can be reviewed by professionals for FREE (as far as I know).

Wait, so the judges actually critique and give advice to ever single person that submits a written work? Because...that's the only way I can see someone getting any benefit from this...
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Agent355



Joined: 12 Dec 2008
Posts: 5113
Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready...
PostPosted: Sun May 22, 2016 7:45 pm Reply with quote
Ultimatemegax's Tumblr post (see, I do click on links!) makes it clear that *only winning submissions* get published reviews. So, no.

Ultimatemegax's post and CapNatsukiSan's posts in this thread, with their dismissive attitudes towards the contest entrants ("it only costs a postage stamp to enter") and even the encouragement award winners that were adapted (they're "on the level of light novels" and don't "deserve" to win grand prize) reinforces my belief that this contest is an unfair way to get marketable intellectual property on the cheap. It may only cost a postage stamp to enter--on top of the time and effort to produce the work, and the willingness to cede all intellectual property rights to the contest holders. Generally, once you've entered a contest like this, you are not legally allowed to send your novel (or manga) anywhere else, or to work on it on your own and self publish it later. Once its sent to KyoAni, it becomes KyoAni's property.

And if it's "on the level of a light novel" and has no "real literary value"? Isn't that what's being adapted and making money these days? Just because it's a light read doesn't mean its not worth anything in a fast moving entertainment market. I'm not sure what (if any) profit Chuunibyou, Kyokai no Kanata and Phantom World have made or will make, but I'm pretty sure that between two seasons, a movie, and merchandise, Free! (another "encouragement award" winner) has been profitable for KyoAni).

It's interesting to me that the one novel that did win a grand prize in KyoAni's contest seven year history was not adapted to an anime, which lends credibility to KyoAni's defenders claims that the contest is truly looking for literary quality over marketability. However, I can't dismiss the possibility that the "encouragement awards" aren't about aquiring marketable intellectual property rights on the cheap.
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ptj_tsubasa



Joined: 04 Feb 2009
Posts: 129
PostPosted: Mon May 23, 2016 3:44 am Reply with quote
Agent355 wrote:
They claim none of them are good enough to win the full value of the grand prize, but somehow they are good enough to animate completely on KyoAni's terms, for whatever amount KyoAni is willing to compensate the original author for, which (and I'll admit I'm speculating here) is no doubt much, much less than what an established, professional writer or artist would demand.


That's just your speculation, though. You all keep comparing Kyoani to Tokyopop, but we don't really know anything about if the rules of the contest are similar in any way.

Agent355 wrote:
I'm not sure what (if any) profit Chuunibyou, Kyokai no Kanata and Phantom World have made or will make, but I'm pretty sure that between two seasons, a movie, and merchandise, Free! (another "encouragement award" winner) has been profitable for KyoAni).


It's hard to imagine that Kouji Ouji has complaints about not winning the grand prize and only getting the honorary mention.

The grand price is 300 000 yen. The honorary mention is 100 000 yen. Do you think that the 200 000 yen difference matters very much after getting her novel published by Kyoani, getting her second novel published, and after two seasons of anime sequels, a movie and merchandize? Or should the honorary mention be upgraded to the grand price just in the name of fairness, because the franchise has proven to be a success in the long run?

You are of course aware that even though the novel was good enough to receive a honorary mention, it obviously wasn't worth of an anime "adaptation". Instead they took the characters and made an anime sequel where the characters are older.

leafy sea dragon wrote:
Well, what I mean is that I would've at least expected who wins in these contests to be tied to what they adapt. These sound like the competition and what they actually choose to adapt are unrelated, which makes me wonder why even have these awards when they're largely devoid of meaning.


Getting recognition in the contest and getting an anime adaptation are obviously two different things here. The prize categories are worded a bit confusingly, and they obviously don't reflect reality anymore.

I can understand why a work that's good enough to win a prize might not be suitable for an anime adaptation, and vice versa. We're not talking about Jump manga here, where the anime adaptation can't really change even one line of dialogue, and the reason of the anime in the first place is to introduce the exact same events to people who haven't read the original manga.

A novel might be a literary masterpiece, but it might not be marketable enough to warrant a huge investment like an anime production. On the other hand a novel might be badly written, but the ideas, concepts and characters might be marketable enough to be commercially viable. Chu2koi was obviously in the latter category.
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Agent355



Joined: 12 Dec 2008
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PostPosted: Mon May 23, 2016 3:38 pm Reply with quote
According to Megamemax's Tumblr post linked by CapNatsukiSan in this thread, the grand prize is 1 million Yen, not 300,000, but I'm not sure what his sources are.

Awarding someone a lower status prize is an easy way to take control of their ideas for less than it's actually worth. Not only is the initial prize value different, but the total compensation, contract terms, and demands of the company on the original creator could be different, too. But unless anime companies in general and KyoAni in particular become more transparent in their business dealings and contract negotiation with original content creators (never going to happen! Laughing), or unless a deal goes wrong and its taken to court and released to the public (could potentially happen?), we can't know for sure. It is suspicious that "encouragement winners" keep getting adaptations is all I'm saying.

Dismissing amateurs as "not good enough" is a rampant problem in the internet age. New artists and writers are often asked to do work for exposure and/or little pay. They are dismissed with the attitude of "you should be glad you're even getting published!" and "you're work isn't up to an unspecified standard of quality because you're young/new/an amateur, and therefore isn't worth as much." its an awful but pervasive attitude, and I hope that KyoAni isn't perpetuating it.
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leafy sea dragon



Joined: 27 Oct 2009
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PostPosted: Mon May 23, 2016 4:40 pm Reply with quote
Agent355 wrote:
Dismissing amateurs as "not good enough" is a rampant problem in the internet age. New artists and writers are often asked to do work for exposure and/or little pay. They are dismissed with the attitude of "you should be glad you're even getting published!" and "you're work isn't up to an unspecified standard of quality because you're young/new/an amateur, and therefore isn't worth as much." its an awful but pervasive attitude, and I hope that KyoAni isn't perpetuating it.


It's always been this way though for any job market with a lot of competition. Musicians have it very tough: Regardless of if they're part of a garage band or trained in classical instruments, musicians not yet established will get requests to play for free or severely underpaid roles, and they're always told stuff like "All these people will watch you play! You might get your big break here!" (The worst part is that this really is the best many can hopefor without getting very lucky.)
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ptj_tsubasa



Joined: 04 Feb 2009
Posts: 129
PostPosted: Tue May 24, 2016 4:35 am Reply with quote
Agent355 wrote:
It is suspicious that "encouragement winners" keep getting adaptations is all I'm saying.


There are hundreds of manga and light novels that get anime adaptations every year without receiving a single award before. I'm sure the poor creators only get paid in royalties.
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crx07



Joined: 21 Sep 2015
Posts: 162
PostPosted: Thu May 26, 2016 4:16 am Reply with quote
Ali07 wrote:
#844903 wrote:
This contest benefits the amateur writers big-time because their works can be reviewed by professionals for FREE (as far as I know).

Wait, so the judges actually critique and give advice to ever single person that submits a written work? Because...that's the only way I can see someone getting any benefit from this...
I used the wrong word here. not "reviewed", maybe "assessed" or something like an exam that if you can pass their standards, then your work must be good. If it does not win, it means it sucks.
Haven't you forgotten that royalties from sales and the prize money are benefits of the winners?
For the losers, they will know their work sucks and has little (if any) potential to make money for a living (either critically or popularly) and put it in the trash can. It may either give them discouragement (which is good I think because they finally realized that they have no talent), or more motivation to create a better story (which is also good for the positive-minded creators, because they know they need to write a different story and not dwell from the trash they made).


Last edited by crx07 on Thu May 26, 2016 4:50 am; edited 1 time in total
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crx07



Joined: 21 Sep 2015
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PostPosted: Thu May 26, 2016 4:38 am Reply with quote
Agent355 wrote:
It is suspicious that "encouragement winners" keep getting adaptations is all I'm saying.
It's not suspicious. KyoAni Awards blatantly said that if a certain work wins, they will acquire the IP rights of the work, publish it, and they may even give an anime adaptation. And take note that they said they will give royalty to the writers. How much? We don't know.
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Ali07



Joined: 01 Jun 2014
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PostPosted: Sat May 28, 2016 12:08 am Reply with quote
#844903 wrote:
Ali07 wrote:
#844903 wrote:
This contest benefits the amateur writers big-time because their works can be reviewed by professionals for FREE (as far as I know).

Wait, so the judges actually critique and give advice to ever single person that submits a written work? Because...that's the only way I can see someone getting any benefit from this...
I used the wrong word here. not "reviewed", maybe "assessed" or something like an exam that if you can pass their standards, then your work must be good. If it does not win, it means it sucks.
Haven't you forgotten that royalties from sales and the prize money are benefits of the winners?
For the losers, they will know their work sucks and has little (if any) potential to make money for a living (either critically or popularly) and put it in the trash can. It may either give them discouragement (which is good I think because they finally realized that they have no talent), or more motivation to create a better story (which is also good for the positive-minded creators, because they know they need to write a different story and not dwell from the trash they made).

Mentioning the money is moot, look at what I quoted from your previous post. It's why I questioned that part of the post.

As for the losers part, sure, some may not have what it takes. Others could become much better (or perhaps great) writers if they knew what their failings are, and that would only come up through feedback.

Seems like, you saying "benefits the amateur writers big-time because their works can be reviewed by professionals for FREE" is incorrect. Without any feedback critiquing the writing, I see no benefit to having your work judged by professionals if it just boils down to, "Oh, I didn't win".

And, I don't see something where giving up on a career path based on not winning anything is a true benefit. Maybe for the guy who is doing nothing besides writing, and it is detrimental to them, sure. But, I'd say that'd be a rare occurrence (if at all).
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crx07



Joined: 21 Sep 2015
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PostPosted: Sat May 28, 2016 5:39 am Reply with quote
Ali07 wrote:
Seems like, you saying "benefits the amateur writers big-time because their works can be reviewed by professionals for FREE" is incorrect.
I questioned my usage of the word "reviewed" because of its other connotations that I failed to notice and it led to misunderstanding. I cannot find the right word. And I take my word "big-time" back. That word sounds too big.
So I will clarify myself. Here are the benefits of these amateur writers. Those are big benefits IMO. But you can freely argue here.
1. The gate for becoming a professional is very easily accessible. Just a post office away.
2. If the work doesn't win, its author will know that the work does not pass to the KyoAni standards.
Next, I would mention your faulty assumptions:
1. All amateur literary works can be improved into professional quality through feedback.
I don't think so.
2. Authors improve in writing through feedback.
The real truth is that "A literary work can be improved through feedback". It's not the person who is critiqued here, it's the work. Even though your assumption is faulty, it's indirectly true. When a feedback advises that something should not be written that way or it should be something like this, the author will also learn to apply what he learned from the feedback not only to the critiqued work but also on his other present and/or future works. I say indirectly true because the improvement of the author is just a by-product from the feedback he got from the critiqued work.
3. When a work fails to win the KyoAni awards, it means that the author didn't win.
"Oh, I didn't win" is not a correct statement, but I would allow saying it because it's seems to be the same. But I would rather hear the statement "My submitted work didn't win" since it's accurate. It's not the author who is judged, it's the work, and it's not the author who lost the award, it's the work. I dunno about the rules but if you submit 10 works and one won, it makes more sense to say "One of my submitted works won but the other nine didn't win" "I won once but didn't nine times"
I wonder why you are obsessed on feedback. Feedback are only given to the works who have a potential to become better. But with one exception. All bad works are also given feedback, not to the work but to the author himself. The feedback is "rewrite".

I will quote what ultimatemegax said. Argue with him instead because he seems to have the one who has more knowledge.
Quote:
Apparently these submissions are thought to be either "God's gift to mankind" or "utter complete garbage." There can't be a middle ground of "not written well enough to deserve a grand prize or even honorable mention, but there's a lot of potential if the author re-writes this." Shockingly that's how scientific articles get published. We submit to a journal, get reviewed, then adjust based on comments and re-submit the revised version for publication. A similar process happens here.
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ultimatemegax



Joined: 26 Jan 2010
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PostPosted: Sat May 28, 2016 7:09 am Reply with quote
#844903 wrote:
I will quote what ultimatemegax said. Argue with him instead because he seems to have the one who has more knowledge.

Sadly there is no use arguing. It's sadly interpreted as "IT'S A SCAM!" from the second post because there's a cultural sentiment of "THERE MUST BE A WINNER!" ignoring that many other contests in Japan (from publishers like Kadokawa, Ascii Media Works, Shueisha, etc) have situations where no one wins a grand prize. Yet those don't get reported in English, so people blame KyoAni when they follow suit.

If there's people who want to ignore those other contests and think this is a scam, I can't do anything. I'm not going to force reality on their minds. It's a waste of time and puts me in a negative mood.
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