Tezuka Award

Not to be confused with Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize.

The Tezuka Award (手塚賞, Tezuka Shō) was a semi-annual manga award offered by the Japanese publisher Shueisha since 1971, under the auspices of its Weekly Shonen Jump magazine. It awarded new manga artists in the Story Manga category. Its counterpart award, Akatsuka Award, awards new manga artists in the Comedic Manga category. The award is named after the manga pioneer Osamu Tezuka and is designed to cultivate new artists. The prize for a top Selected Work is two million Japanese yen and for a lesser but still worthy work, a million yen. The award also has third place honorable mentions for contestants deemed worthy, that includes half a million yen. These cash prizes may not be awarded (as is often the case) if the judges deem none of the candidates worthy.

Historically the recipients have been in their early twenties, although two notable winners were over 90 years of age.

Selection committee

Committee chair

• Osamu Tezuka (1971-1988)
• Fujio Akatsuka (1989-2008). Due to his failing health, this title was merely a formality during the years leading up to his death on August 2, 2008, with his duties handled by Akira Toriyama in his absence.

Major committee members

These are the most prominent members of the committee only. Other adjudicators are also present in the committee.

• Akira Toriyama
• Nobuhiro Watsuki
• Eiichiro Oda
• Kazuki Takahashi
• Masanori Morita
• Masashi Kishimoto
• Hiroyuki Asada
• Takehiko Inoue
• Tezuka Productions

Notable recipients

• Yoshihiro Takahashi
• Buichi Terasawa　(1977, for Daichi yo Aoku Nare)
• Masakazu Katsura (1980, for Tsubasa and 1981, for Tenkousei wa Hensousei!?)
• Masanori Morita
• Nobuhiro Watsuki (1987, for Teacher Pon)
• Takehiko Inoue (1988, for Kaede Purple)
• Hiroyuki Takei
• Yuuziro Sakamoto (2003)

See also

• Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize
• Akatsuka Award
• List of prizes named after people
• List of prizes, medals and awards