The 12th Golden Comic Awards hosted by the Ministry of Culture announced the finalists a few days ago. The 25 outstanding Taiwan comics shortlisted works will compete for the Best New Talent, Best Cross-media Application, Best Editor, Government Comic Award, Comic of the Year, and GCA Grand Prize, and senior comic artist Ren Zhenghua won the Special Contribution Award.
From October 22nd, the GCA CONNECTION+ online series will be launched. Online themed special exhibitions will select nearly 100 original Taiwanese comics. People are welcome to visit the immersive interactive website to experience the vitality of Taiwan’s original comics.
This year’s Golden Comic Awards was enthusiastically registered. The Ministry of Culture stated that a total of 226 works were registered for the competition, an increase of 17% over last year. After reviews, a total of 25 works were shortlisted, and Ren Zhenghua won the Special Contribution Award. Ren Zhenghua came into prominence in the 1980s with girly comics. Her representative works include “Sea of Devil”, “Ren Rou Bao Zi“, “Drawn to Life”, “Drawn to Life 2”, etc. Her works are full of insights into humanity and entertainment, being a model for young generations to learn.
In terms of other awards, the jury stated that the finalists of this year’s Best New Talent award are amazing, including their styles and selection of materials; the finalists of the Best Editor show how editors explore the market with their own unique vision. They led creators to clarify the core of the work from the beginning of the project to the final completion. The works shortlisted for the Best Cross-media Application use peripheral products and integrated media to enrich the worldview of the original work. Shortlisted works of the Comic of the Year are diverse, showing multiple styles.
Since the government has promoted comics and has contributed to data translation, the Government Comic Award has been added this year to encourage creators and private organizations to cooperate with government agencies to develop original comics with Taiwanese characteristics. The jury stated that the finalists for this award broke the old stereotype. These works are imaginative, creative and eye-catching.
According to the Ministry of Culture, there will be 6 winners of the Comic of the Year award this year, and each award will have a winner. One more winner of the GCA Grand Prize will be selected from the winners of the Comic of the Year. The total prize money is NTD 2.45 million, and the list of winners will be announced at the award ceremony on October 28th. From October 22nd, the Golden Comic Awards online series will be launched.
