LINE Manga, operated by LINE Digital Frontier Corporation, has announced its largest-ever manga award, the “LINE Manga Webtoon Grand Prix 2025,” which commenced on November 21. The competition aims to discover new talent in the webtoon and horizontal-scroll manga categories, with an unprecedented grand prize of 10 million yen and a guaranteed serialization on LINE Manga and its global services for all major award winners.
Unprecedented Opportunity for Webtoon Creators
This major initiative by LINE Manga signifies a substantial investment in fostering new creators within the rapidly expanding digital comic landscape. The 10 million yen (approximately $67,000 USD at current exchange rates) grand prize is the highest ever offered in a LINE Manga contest, reflecting the company’s commitment to attracting top-tier talent. Beyond the significant monetary reward, all winners will receive dedicated editorial support from “LINE Manga WEBTOON STUDIO” to facilitate their debut and ongoing work.
Global Reach and Industry Impact
LINE Manga is a prominent player in the “WEBTOON Worldwide Service” platform, which boasts approximately 150 million monthly users globally as of September 2025. By launching such a large-scale contest, LINE Manga aims to further invigorate the manga market, particularly in Japan, and expand the diversity of webtoon content available to readers worldwide. The company has a history of supporting creators and has seen many hit works emerge from domestically produced webtoons.
Submission Categories and Judging Process
The “LINE Manga Webtoon Grand Prix 2025” is open to creators of original webtoons and horizontal-scroll manga. While specific divisions for submission are not explicitly detailed as separate categories in the provided snippets, the overall call is for original webtoon and manga content.
Expert Panel and Reader Engagement
The judging panel for the contest includes five acclaimed authors from LINE Manga’s original works: T.Jun (story for Lookism), yaongyi (True Beauty), Chinami Akio (The Fourth Husband), Yuji Iwahara (Clevatess), and Yachiyo Okuya (artwork for The Round Girlfriend and the Unfortunate Boyfriend). Chinami Akio’s work, The Fourth Time’s the Husband, recently won a main award at the 2025 WORLD WEBTOON AWARDS, marking a significant achievement for a Japanese creator. In addition to expert evaluation, the contest will also incorporate reader voting after the initial selection round, ensuring a multi-faceted judging approach that considers both artistic merit and audience appeal.
Supporting Aspiring Artists: Workshops and Tools
To further empower creators, LINE Manga will host two online seminars, “LINE Manga WEBTOON Meetup,” designed for both experienced and novice webtoon artists. Additionally, Celsys Corporation is sponsoring the event, providing “CLIP STUDIO PAINT,” a popular paint application for smartphones, tablets, and PCs, as a sub-prize to winners. This support aims to equip aspiring artists with essential tools and knowledge to develop their craft.
A Look at LINE Manga’s Influence
Since its launch in Japan in 2013, LINE Manga has consistently grown, becoming the top-downloaded manga app in the country. The platform is known for its extensive collection of original, exclusive, and pre-release titles, and has been a pioneer in promoting full-color, vertical-scroll webtoons optimized for smart devices. This Grand Prix is a testament to LINE Manga’s ongoing efforts to expand the digital comics market and discover the next generation of storytelling talent.
