American Manga Awards 2026 Winners Announced

*Disclosure: Crunchyroll News Editor-in-Chief Kyle Cardine is serving as a judge for the American Manga Awards 2026.*The third American Manga Awards ceremony went down at the Japan Society in New York City last night, with Zack Davisson serving as host for an evening celebrating the industry and the creators, publishers and localization teams that make it all happen. In addition to the main wins, which we’ll get to below, the ceremony inducted two people in the Manga Publishing Hall of Fame and presented ***Princess Jellyfish ***author Akiko Higashimura with the American Manga Award of Distinction. Higashimura is in town for Anime NYC this weekend and was in attendance to receive the award personally.This year’s inductees into the Manga Publishing Hall of Fame included Chigusa Ogino, Advisor and former Executive Director in the Board of Directors for Tuttle-Mori Agency who helped pave the way for manga's authentic entrance into western markets, and late Vertical co-founder Ioannis Mentzas, whose work at Vertical and as editorial director at Kodansha USA left an indelible mark on the industry. Here’s a rundown of the big winners this year, highlighted among the list of nominees:

Best New Manga

**WINNER: *****Billy Bat ****- *Naoki Urasawa (Kana/Abrams)

Nominees:

***Bug Ego ***- ONE, Kyoto Shitara (VIZ Media)

***The Credits Roll into the Sea ***- John Taranchine (Dark Horse)

***The Horrors of Noroi Michiru ***- Noroi Michiru (Start Fruit Books/Glacier Bay Books)

***LOVE-BULLET ***- inee (Yen Press)

Best Continuing Manga Series

WINNER:** *****The Summer Hikaru Died *****vol. 6 **- mokumokuren (Yen Press)

Nominees:

***The Climber *****vol. 3-6 **- Shin’ichi Sakamoto, Jiro Nitta (VIZ Media)

***March comes in like a lion vol. 4 ***- Chica Umino (Denpa)

***Our Not-So-Lonely Planet Travel Guide *****vol. 7 **- Mone Sorai (Tokyopop)

***Search and Destroy *****vol. 3 **- Atsushi Kaneko (Fantagraphics)

Best One-Shot Manga

WINNER:** “Cocoon” **- Machiko Kyo (VIZ Media)

Nominees:

**“Akari” **- Marco Kohinata (Glacier Bay Books)

**“Box Garden Beetle” **- Akino Kondoh (Glacier Bay Books)

**“My Life in 24 Frames per Second” **- Rintaro (Kana/Abrams) 

**“The Strange Tale of Panorama Island” **- Suehiro Maruo (Last Gasp)

Best New Edition of Classic Manga

**WINNER: *****Mushishi *****Collector’s Edition vol. 1-2 **- Yuki Urushibara (Kodansha)

Nominees:

***Ashita no Joe: Fighting for Tomorrow *****vol. 3-5 **- Asao Takamori, Tetsuya Chiba (Kodansha)

***The Legend of Kamui *****vol. 2-3 **- Sanpei Shirato (Drawn & Quarterly)

***Stop!! Hibari-kun! *****vol. 1 **- Hisashi Eguchi (Peow2)

***Ultra Heaven *****vol. 2 **- Keiichi Koike (Last Gasp)

Best Lettering

WINNER:** Madeleine Jose - *****Maid to Skate ***- Suzushiro (VIZ Media)

Nominees:

Brendon Hull*** - Cyberpunk Edgerunners Madness *****vol. 1 **- Bartosz Sztybor, Asano (Dark Horse)

**Vadim K. - *****Don’t Feed the Trolls ***- Karasu Chan (J18 Publishing)

**Vladyslav L. - *****Sweet and Spicy ***- Shimimaru (J18 Publishing)

**Vanessa Satone - *****One Piece vol. 112 ***- Eiichiro Oda (VIZ Media)

Best Translation

WINNER:** Jan Mitsuko Cash - *****Magica *****vol. 1 **- Yuzuko Hoshimi (Kodama Tales)

Nominees:

**Alexa Frank - **Miss Ruki - Fumiko Takano (New York Review Books)

**Andres Oliver - *****Mushishi *****Collector’s Edition vol. 1-2 **- Yuki Urushibara (Kodansha)

**Kiki Piatkowska - *****A Starlit Darkness *****vol. 1 **- Yu Toyota (Square Enix Manga & Books)

**Asa Yoneda - *****Ashita no Joe: Fighting for Tomorrow *****vol. 3-5 **- Asao Takaori, Tetsuya Chiba (Kodansha)

Best Publication Design

WINNER:** Wendy Chan - *****Fruits Basket: *****The Complete Box Set **- Natsuki Takaya (Yen Press)

Nominees:

**chichols - *****Magica *****vol. 1 **- Yuzuko Hoshimi (Kodama Tales)

**Ti Collier - *****A Cat Is a Cat in Any Life ***- Ema Tohyama (Square Enix Manga  & Books)

**Patric Crotty - *****Stop!! Hibari-kun! *****vol. 1 **- Hisashi Eguchi (Peow2)

**Emuh Ruh - *****Baku Chan ***- Masumura Jushichi (Glacier Bay Books)

**Source: **American Manga Awards ceremony