Join and Win an Anime Adaptation with IG Port's 'Project Bigship' Contest

Artists have a chance to get their works recognized as a contest named, “Project BigShip” is revealed on Monday by IG Port, the parent company of animation studios Production I.G, Wit Studio, XEBEC,Signal.MD, and publisher Mag Garden. In celebration of 10 years since I.G. Port was founded from a merger between Production I.G and Mag Garden, the contest gives a chance to all creators to have their works recognized by submitting to a number of categories and win big.

Creators have until January 30 to submit their works to be judged by the categories of their choosing. Each company/category holds a guideline to be followed and judged by a panel of judges in each company/category. Once their work is submitted there will be three rounds of screenings to be done with the first screening having the submissions being narrowed to the most excellent entries.

The second screening has the company choosing the prize winner for their category which is ranked by Bronze, Silver and Gold. From this selection, each Gold prize winner shall be judged to win the grand prize by the following judges:

Kozue Amano
Tow Ubukata
Haruki Kasugamori
Kemuri Karakara
Katsuyuki Motohiro
Kore Yamazaki

The grand prize? 3 million yen (about US$26,257) and an anime adaptation of the submission.

The following listed are the company/categories that a creator may choose from with the listed guidelines, panels of judges, and prizes to be won.

Production I.G

In line with their recently launched “Tate Anime” (Vertical Anime) smartphone app; this company seeks an anime concept that would be not only achieve a three-minute video but must be adaptable to vertically-oriented screens, such as smartphones and tablets. The allowable themes for the concept include comedy, romance, sports, action, workplace, horror, gourmet, games, medical, finance, economy, slice-of-life, and healing.

Judging the submissions are Production I.G CEO Mitsuhisa Ishikawa, Anime Producer Rui Kuroki, Anime Director Katsuyuki Motohiro and Production I.G staff.

Most of the prizes for all categories fall under the category of cash prizes with certain categories offering something extra. For this category 100,000 yen (about US$875) will be going to the Bronze winner.
The Silver prize winner will receive 500,000 yen (about US$4,379). And for the Gold prize winner, they will receive 1 million yen (about US$8,757) with the winning anime possibly having a stream with the Tate Anime app.

Signal. MD.

For this group they seek a three-second or more digitally produced GIF which may fall under the themes of comedy, romance, sports, action, workplace, horror, gourmet, games, medical, finance, economy, slice-of-life, and healing.

Acting as judges for this category are Signal.MD CEO Katsuji Morishita, Anime Director Haruki Kasugamori, and the Signal.MD staff.

The cash prize for the Bronze winner amounts to 50,000 yen (about US$437). 100,000 yen (about US$875) goes to the Silver prize winner. Then a total of 300,000 yen (about US$2,628) is the reward for the Gold prize winner.

XEBEC

Contestants who wish to make a submission under this company are to submit original works (that can also be story pitches and concept illustrations) falling under a “climbing” theme, along with stories about “reaching the top.” It is also suggested for entrants to keep in mind of the project name of “Bigship,” which calls to mind humanity’s will to explore both oceans and peaks “because it’s there.”

The XEBEC CEO Ryuji Mitsumoto and the XEBEC staff will be taking charge of the judging.

In comparison to the other companies/categories, XEBEC holds only a single prize for the Gold winner and it is a cash prize of 100,000 yen (about US$875).

Mag Garden

Those who are interested in having their fantasy, low fantasy or science-fantasy works to be recognized can submit their works to this company. To elaborate, the magazine defines the genres as the following.

High fantasy are “stories set in a completely different fantasy world,” low fantasies are “fantasy in the present-day world, or based heavily on the real world,” and science-fantasy are “fantasy works defined by science and with an eye to the future, similar in meaning to science-fiction.”

The works may also have the themes of comedy, romance, sports, action, workplace, gourmet, games, medical, finance, economy, slice-of-life, and healing.

The judges who will be deliberating the three winners comprise of Mag Garden CEO Yoshihiro Hosaka, Kozue Amano the creator of the anime series “Aria”,Kemuri Karakara, the creator of “Donten ni Warau”, Kore Yamazaki the creator of the fantasy series “The Ancient Magus’ Bride”, and the Mag Garden editorial department.

More than getting a 100,000 yen (about US$875), the Bronze winner will also be receiving an acknowledgement from the company. The Silver prize winner will 500,000 yen (about US$4,379), an acknowledgement by the company, and a one-shot manga of their story. For the Gold winner, they will receive 1 million yen (about US$8,757), an acknowledgement by the company, and a manga serialization of the story.

In addition to the three prizes, contestants will also have a chance at winning the “Judges’ Choice” and “Editor’s Choice” along with smaller awards for particularly unique ideas and excellent lines of dialogue.

Wit Studio

For this last company/category, stories that may fall under the themes of science-fiction, fantasy, and other speculative fiction with "timeless and universal themes”, are chosen on whether they are publishable as a novel under its Wit Novel label in collaboration with Amazon Japan and its Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) program.

This is due to the fact that novels which are published under the label holds the possibility of serving as a foundation of future video projects.

Judging the stories are Tou Ubukata, the creator of “Mardock Scramble” and Wit Studio President George Wada.

It has been noted that there is a chance that the studio may not choose an awardee for the cash prizes yet they are still offering starting with 100,000 yen (about US$875) for the Bronze prize winner. For the Silver prize winner they will not only receive 300,000 yen (about US$2,628), but also the possibility of a publishing deal through Amazon KDP. Lastly the Gold prize winner will be rewarded 1 million yen (about US$8,757), and the possibility of both an anime adaptation and a publishing deal through Amazon KDP.

Source: Anime News Network