RULES & GUIDELINES

The SILENT MANGA AUDITION® (SMA) isn’t just a manga competition, it’s a gateway to your potential Japanese manga debut. By winning high awards in the contest, you will be invited to join the SMA MasterClass where our dedicated team of editors will help improve your abilities for a potential debut through a series of exclusive opportunities.

We welcome all emotions – happiness, sadness, and everything in-between.
Like a good chef, the mixing of opposing flavors can sometimes produce the best results!

The SMA Judges assess each entry’s  “message and how it makes the reader feel within a short, limited number of pages.”  There are no limitations to what you can draw, as long as it’s an original creation that perfectly captures the theme.

The page count for a single SMA entry is 17 pages or less. (The page count may change depending on the round so please be sure to always check the current round announcement page).

• Dialogue: the use of dialogue to tell the story is strictly forbidden in SMA.
• The use of emojis in speech bubbles in the place of text, as a means to create dialogue.
• Copyright infringement: using copyrighted characters or imagery.
• Plagiarism, nudity, explicit violence, or material that is likely to cause offense.
• Preset photos or drawings of people and backgrounds.
• The use of AI generated-software to produce drawings.
• Distributing / uploading your ENTIRE entry to social media and other channels if you win an SMA award. However, uploading or distributing a PREVIEW of your entry is acceptable, and it is also acceptable to upload or distribute your entire entry if you do not receive an SMA award. If you receive an SMA award, your entry will be legally owned by COAMIX Inc., meaning you will not be able to sell or distribute your entry to any third party.

• Speech balloons containing “!?”: Exclamations and other punctuation marks are fine, but always keep in mind that they ENHANCE your characters’ expressive emotions, not SUBSTITUTE them. For example, many artists draw expressive marks near characters’ faces, often without speech balloons.
• Signs (e.g., Parking / Flower Shop / Restaurants, etc.): Signage is also OK, provided they are very common and universally understood.
• Onomatopoeia: drawn letters that represent sound is welcome and actually encouraged in ANY LANGUAGE. In most Japanese manga, sound effects are usually incorporated into the art by the original artist in a unique style that sets the tone of the sound.
• Entries from partners, groups, etc.
• Multiple entries are WELCOME!

• Utilize the first page as part of the storytelling and not just a cover page.
• We encourage you to make good use of a “double page spread” (a pair of two adjacent pages in a book). Treat the page spread as ONE WIDE CANVAS.
• Complex stories are often difficult to incorporate in SMA. It's a good idea to plan ahead, and think of a simple, yet effective story before you begin your final manga.
• We want to see what “message(s)” the story clearly presents to the reader – evoking emotions and feelings to entertain the reader.
• FLOW: Though manga displays the action on a single page, it is designed to be read as a “double page spread”, with the action starting from the right and flowing from page to page. This same rule applies even when reading manga on a smartphone or tablet. The key is to ensure the reader turns the page! Use effective “Hiki-goma” (the last panel before turning over the page to the following panel) and other techniques for effective storytelling.

• Image format: JPG or PNG format
• File size: Entire work 50 MB or less (for 17 pages, this is approx. 2.9 MB/ page)
• Image file name: Your image files should be labeled with a two digit number in sequential order based on the page number of the image file (Example: page_01.jpg, page_02.jpg, etc.)
• Resolution: 300 dpi

If the file name is not correct, it may be displayed in the wrong order after uploading.

[Correct example]: page_01.jpg, page_02.jpg, etc. …
[Incorrect example]: page1.jpg, 1_page.jpg, etc. …

　　 *NOTE: Be sure to omit the first zero when you reach double figures.

[Correct example]: page_10.jpg, page_11.jpg, etc. …
[Incorrect example]: page_010.jpg, page_011.jpg, etc. …

• Entry title
• Detailed Credit (in case of a team creation, team pen name)
• Comments (to the SMA Editorial Dept. / the reader)

• Full legal name
• Address and country
• Email address
• Phone Number

It is not possible to edit an entry once it has been submitted, so if there are any issues with your entry, please edit it and resubmit it through the same form. If you have submitted multiple entries, but you would only like one to be considered, please contact the SMA Editorial Department via our Online Inquiry Form , and the Editorial Department will delete any entries you would not like to be considered.