The is the name of a semi-annual award presented to humorous manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

 cartoonists by the Japanese publisher Shueisha

Shueisha

is a major publisher in Japan. The company was founded in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The following year, Shueisha became a separate, independent company. Magazines published by Shueisha include Weekly Shōnen Jump, Weekly Young Jump,...

. The award has been given since 1974 and it aims to reward new manga artist

Mangaka

is the Japanese word for a comic artist or cartoonist. Outside of Japan, manga usually refers to a Japanese comic book and mangaka refers to the author of the manga, who is usually Japanese...

 in the comedy manga category. Its counterpart award, Tezuka Award

Tezuka Award

The is a semi-annual manga award offered by the Japanese publisher Shueisha , under the auspices of its Weekly Shonen Jump magazine. It awards new comic artists in the Story Manga category. Its counterpart award, Akatsuka Award, awards new comic artists in the Comedic Manga category...

, awards new manga artists in the Story Manga

Story manga

Story manga is one of the two main type of Manga, other being Gag manga. The later type is akin to comic strip. It synchronize visual and reading speed of each frames/strips using the time-control technique on each double-page spread. It is distinguished from the "one frame cartoon" and "one page...

 category. Notable entrants and winners include Takeshi Okano

Takeshi Okano

is a Japanese manga artist known both for his own works as well as being the collaborative artist with manga writers such as Shou Makura and Tatsuya Hamazaki.Okano made his manga debut with Shueisha in 1987 with the one shot...

, Kazumata Oguri, Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro

Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro

is a Japanese manga artist. He made his debut in 1996 in Weekly Shōnen Jump and received a Akatsuka Award for best new comic manga writer. He is best known for , for which he won the 2001 Shogakukan Manga Award for children's manga...

, Norihiro Yagi

Norihiro Yagi

is a Japanese manga writer and artist from Okinawa Prefecture. He started making manga in 1990.Norihiro Yagi is a successful manga artist, having won the 32nd Akatsuka Award for his very first work, Undeadman. Undeadman appeared in Monthly Shōnen Jump and has had two sequels...

 and Yusuke Murata

Yusuke Murata

, is a Japanese manga artist. He's best known for illustrating the American football manga Eyeshield 21, in collaboration with writer Riichiro Inagaki. During the creation of this series, his art style developed dramatically. Eyeshield 21 was completed in June 2009.He was once the assistant and...

. The award was named after Fujio Akatsuka

Fujio Akatsuka

was a pioneer Japanese artist of comical manga known as the Gag Manga King. His name at birth is 赤塚 藤雄, whose Japanese pronunciation is the same as 赤塚 不二夫....

, one of the most successful gag manga artists.