Graduate student wins special jury prize at international manga contest!

AUNG MYIN KYAW, who completed the Master's program at the Graduate Graduate School of Comparative Culture in 2020, has been awarded the Special Jury Award at the 12th Manga Kingdom Tottori International Manga Contest.

On Saturday, February 17th, the "International Manga Contest Award Ceremony Manga Awards SHOW 2024" will be held at Tottori Bank Cultural Center (101-5 Naotoku-cho, Tottori City), and certificates and award certificates will be presented.
Mr. Aung and Professor Yoshimi Kurata Faculty of Architecture & Arts participated on the day.

The theme of the 12th Manga Kingdom Tottori International Manga Contest is "Family."
During the submission period from April to August 2023, 520 works were submitted from 23 countries and regions around the world, and many of the works were selected as winners.
A collection of 23 works, including the winning and finalist works, was published and sold at the venue, and is also available at all Imai Bookstores and online bookstores (Amazon, Rakuten Books, etc.).
I hope that he will use this experience of receiving this award to achieve even greater success.

[Comment: AUNG MYIN KYAW]

●About the Tottori International Manga Contest

After graduating, I moved into the workspace of manga artist Professor Yoshimi Kurata, where I continued to study manga and create works, and that's when I learned about the Tottori International Manga Contest.
This is actually my second time entering this contest.
This year's submission, "Min Min," tells the story of a boy who keeps persevering without losing hope amid the civil war in Myanmar.
I am incredibly happy to receive the Special Jury Award and am so grateful that they chose my story.
I would like to thank Professor Yoshimi Kurata, my family and friends for all their help and advice.
Winning this award makes me feel that my hard work has been recognized, and it will encourage me to continue creating stories.

●How did you find out about the Graduate Graduate School of Comparative Culture Otemae University and what research did you do there?

There was an introduction to Japanese universities in Myanmar and that's where I learned about Otemae University.
During the introduction, I was given a manga book drawn by students from Otemae University as a gift, which made me want to study manga at Otemae University.
Japanese manga is the best in the world, so I wanted to learn how manga is made in Japan and how stories are conceived.
He then enrolled in the Master's program at the Graduate School Graduate School of Comparative Culture in 2018 as a government-sponsored student from Myanmar, where he was supervised by Professor Tanimura Kaname and wrote a thesis on comparative research into the manga culture of Myanmar and Japan.

[Comment: Professor Yoshimi Kurata, Department of Manga Arts Faculty of Architecture & Arts]
*Manga artist name: Yoshimi Kurata Representative works: Ajiichimonme etc.

Aung believes that this award was the result of his own hard work.
I saw her working seriously and creating a schedule without disrupting her daily routine, and I think she worked extremely hard, even taking on part-time work as an interpreter at times.

(Source: School Public Relations)