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Disappearance Diary Nominated for Ignatz Awards
posted on by Egan Loo
The jury for the 2009 Ignatz Awards has nominated Hideo Azuma's autobiographical Disappearance Diary manga in the Outstanding Graphic Novel category. Azuma is the first creator from Japan to be honored with an Ignatz Award nomination. (The Japanese-Canadian cousins Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki won last year's award in the same category for Skim.) The awards, which are named after the character in George Herriman's seminal comic Krazy Kat, recognize "outstanding achievement in comics and cartooning." A jury of cartoonists create a ballot every year, and then the attendees of Small Press Expo vote on the nominees. The winners will be announced at the Maryland event on September 26.
Disappearance Diary recounts Azuma's years as a homeless man, a menial laborer, and a recovering alcoholic. It previously won the Grand Prize in the Manga Division of the 9th Japanese Media Arts Festival in 2005. The following year, it received the Grand Prize in 10th Osamu Tezuka Cultural Awards. It was also nominated for the grand prize in last year's Angouleme International Comics Festival in France.
Fanfare / Ponent Mon publishes the manga in North America and posted a preview online.
Source: About.com:Manga via MangaBlog
Update: The manga is also up for the award in the Outstanding Story category.
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