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IG Port Launches 'Project Bigship' Contest With Anime Adaptation Award

IG Port, the parent company of animation studios Production I.G, Wit Studio, XEBEC, Signal.MD, and publisher Mag Garden, announced a new contest on Monday called "Project Bigship," which invites creators to submit works for different categories overseen by each subsidiary company. The project celebrates the 10 years since the founding of the IG Port company (the parent company was founded in 2007 after a merger between Production I.G and Mag Garden).

Those who wish to submit works may do so following the listed criteria of works for each company. Each company will have its own panel of judges who will determine the best work out of all the submissions for each category. In addition, judges from each category will judge each Gold prize award winner for each category to determine who will win the grand prize. The grand prize winner will receive 3 million yen (about US$26,257) and an anime adaptation of the submission.

The deadline for submissions is on January 31. There will be three rounds of screenings. The first screening will see each company narrow down the submissions to the most excellent entries. The companies will then select a winning Gold prize winner for each category during the second round. The judges will then select the grand prize winner in the final round. IG Port will announce the awardees in spring 2018.

The judges for the grand prize include Kozue Amano (Aria, Amanchu! creator), Tow Ubukata (Mardock Scramble creator), Haruki Kasugamori (Keroro director), Kemuri Karakara (Donten ni Warau creator), Katsuyuki Motohiro (Psycho-Pass director), and Kore Yamazaki (The Ancient Magus' Bride creator).

Categories

Production I.G

The company is seeking entries for anime that fit the requirements for the company's recently-launched "Tate Anime" (Vertical Anime) smartphone app. The anime concept must be accomplished in a three-minute video, and can be presented on vertically-oriented screens, such as smartphones and tablets.

The allowed themes include comedy, romance, sports, action, workplace, horror, gourmet, games, medical, finance, economy, slice-of-life, and healing.

The Bronze prize winner will receive 100,000 yen (about US$875). The Silver prize winner will receive 500,000 yen (about US$4,379). The Gold prize winner will receive 1 million yen (about US$8,757). Production I.G may also stream the winning anime with the Tate Anime app.

The judges include Mitsuhisa Ishikawa (Production I.G CEO), Rui Kuroki (Kuroko's Basketball, Joker Game producer), Katsuyuki Motohiro (Psycho-Pass director), and Production I.G staff.

Signal.MD

The company is seeking digitally produced GIF animation, with a length of above three seconds.

The allowed themes include comedy, romance, sports, action, workplace, horror, gourmet, games, medical, finance, economy, slice-of-life, and healing.

The Bronze prize winner will receive 50,000 yen (about US$437). The Silver prize winner will receive 100,000 yen (about US$875). The Gold prize winner will receive 300,000 yen (about US$2,628).

The judges include Katsuji Morishita (Signal.MD CEO), Haruki Kasugamori (Keroro director), and Signal.MD staff.

XEBEC

The company is seeking original works with a "climbing" theme, and stories about "reaching the top." The company advises entrants to keep in mind the project name of "Bigship," that calls to mind humanity's will to explore both oceans and peaks "because it's there." The company will accept story pitches and concept illustrations.

The company will only award one prize, a Gold prize, for 100,000 yen (about US$875).

The judges include Ryuji Mitsumoto (XEBEC CEO) and XEBEC staff.

Mag Garden

The company is seeking original works in the high fantasy, low fantasy, and science-fantasy genres. The magazine defines high fantasy as "stories set in a completely different fantasy world," low fantasies as "fantasy in the present-day world, or based heavily on the real world," and science-fantasy as "fantasy works defined by science and with an eye to the future, similar in meaning to science-fiction."

The allowed themes include comedy, romance, sports, action, workplace, gourmet, games, medical, finance, economy, slice-of-life, and healing.

The Bronze prize winner will receive 100,000 yen (about US$875) and an acknowledgement by the company. The Silver prize winner will receive 500,000 yen (about US$4,379), an acknowledgement by the company, and a one-shot manga of the story. The Gold prize winner will receive 1 million yen (about US$8,757), an acknowledgement by the company, and a manga serialization of the story. The judges are also picking a "Judges' Choice" and "Editors' Choice" awards separate from the cash prize awards, and the publisher might also issue smaller awards for particularly unique ideas and excellent lines of dialogue.

The judges include Yoshihiro Hosaka (Mag Garden CEO), Kozue Amano (Aria, Amanchu! creator), Kemuri Karakara (Donten ni Warau creator), Kore Yamazaki (The Ancient Magus' Bride creator), and the Mag Garden editorial department.

Wit Studio

The company is seeking a story that can be published as a novel under its Wit Novel label in collaboration with Amazon Japan and its Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) program. Novels under the label are published with the possibility of serving as a foundation of future video projects.

The allowed themes include science-fiction, fantasy, and other speculative fiction with "timeless and universal themes."

Wit Studio stated that there is a possibility that the studio might not choose an awardee for any or all of the cash awards in its category. The Bronze prize winner will receive 100,000 yen (about US$875). The Silver prize winner will receive 300,000 yen (about US$2,628), and the possibility of a publishing deal through Amazon KDP. The Gold prize winner will receive 1 million yen (about US$8,757), and the possibility of both an anime adaptation and a publishing deal through Amazon KDP.

The judges include Tow Ubukata (Mardock Scramble creator) and George Wada (Wit Studio president).

[Via Uri-sure Matome+]