Exciting news! I won an editorial department award from Japanese publisher Coamix, who hosts a silent manga competition called the “Silent Manga Audition” (SMA). This competition has been running for a long time, and SMA24’s theme was “Letters”.

My story “Letters in Pictures” didn’t win a cash prize, but it won an SMA Editorial Department Award, which is a recognition of excellence from the editors.

The comments of Editor Motoda was very kind: “It really made my heart flutter that what brought the two characters together was not words, but the things they liked. From the drawings, I could tell that the two characters had been thinking about each other, not just on the train, but in their everyday life. I also liked the wall filled with pictures of the two of them on the last page. Overall, I really enjoyed this piece!“

I’m considering entering SMA25, which has the theme “A Kind Heart”. Great practice for short stories, especially since it’s only supposed to be 6-17 pages long!