AnimeJapan Opens Entry Submissions for 'New Creator Awards 2027' on October 1
AnimeJapan announced on Friday that it will begin accepting entries for "AnimeJapan New Creator Awards 2027" from October 1 until February 6, 2027. The competition, now in its second year, is aimed at nurturing and supporting the discovery of new anime creative talent.
The competition is open to students enrolled in any educational institutions in Japan, and short films of "about 15 minutes or less" (including opening and ending credits) are eligible for entry. Winning entries will be made available to anime fans worldwide through domestic and international streaming platforms.
The Grand Prix winner will win one million yen (about US$6,419), the Crunchyroll Award winner will win a scholarship of one million yen, and the winners of four category awards will win a prize of 300,000 yen (about US$1,925) each in the areas of technical application, direction, character design, and art. The AnimeJapan Special Award winner will get a chance to showcase their short film at domestic and international anime conventions, and have a seminar conducted by active creators at the winner's school. The AnimeJapan Executive Committee representing 22 anime companies and one organization will act as the judging panel. Winners will be awarded during AnimeJapan 2027 during its public days either on March 27 or 28.
AnimeJapan and Crunchyroll launched the New Creator Awards in Japan in 2025. Inaugural winners were announced during the event last March.
The AnimeJapan event next year will be held at the Intex Osaka convention center in Osaka on March 26-28. The business days will be held first, taking place on March 26 and 27, followed by the public days on March 27 and 28, with March 27 being an overlapping business and public day.
This will be the first time the event will be held outside of Tokyo (the event has always been held at Tokyo Big Sight except when it was held online in 2021). The event will also take place in Osaka in 2028.
AnimeJapan 2026 took place on March 28-31. 156,000 attendees came to the event across its two public days on March 28-29. This year's number is the highest the event has reported, higher than last year's number of 152,400.
Source: Press release
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