The Japan Cartoonists Association of manga creators has announced the winners of the 39th Japan Cartoonist Awards on Friday. The Shinya Shokudō manga from Yarō Abe and the Twilight Hospital manga from Makoto Ayusawa won this year's 500,000-yen (about US$5,400) Grand Prizes. Shinya Shokudō (pictured at right) centers around the people who work in a small, mysterious Tokyo cafeteria. The cafeteria opens at midnight to fix customers any dish they request. The manga was adapted into a live-action television series last fall.

The judging committee also gave a 200,000-yen (US$2,200) Award of Excellence to The Legend of Mother Sarah artist Takumi Nagayasu for his adaptation of the Mibu Gishi Den samurai novel by Jirō Asada's (Viz Media's The Stationmaster book). The original novel was adapted into a live-action 2003 film, titled When the Last Sword Is Drawn in English.

Four-panel manga creator Aōni Yamane received a 200,000-yen (US$2,200) Award of Special Recognition for his entire six-decade-long body of work. Shojō manga creator Hideko Mizuno (Honey Honey no Suteki na Boken, pictured at left) won the Literary Giant Award. The judging committee noted that her work has endured from her post-war days at the famed Tokiwa-so creators' enclave to the present day. The judging committee included Anpanman creator Takashi Yanase and Mazinger Z creator Go Nagai. The actual awards ceremony will take place on June 11 at the Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka in Tokyo. Ryohei Saigan, Yukiyoshi Tokoro, Children of the Sea creator Daisuke Igarashi, Satoshi Ueda, and Kenichi Kitami won last year's awards.