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Kodansha, AIC to Make Anime of Light Novel Prize Winner

The Japanese publisher Kodansha announced on Saturday that the Grand Prize-winning entry in the 1st Kodansha Light Novel Bunko New Author Prize will be adapted into a 15-minute anime by the studio AIC. The website Nico Nico Douga plans to stream the resulting original anime. The Grand Prize winner will also receive 3 million yen (about US$35,000), while the runners-up will receive 1 million yen (US$12,000) and 300,000 yen (US$3,500).

Kodansha also confirmed that the deadline of the prize has been extended one month to May 31, in the aftermath of last month's Great Eastern Japan Earthquake (Higashi Nihon Daishinsai) disaster. Applicants can submit an unpublished original (Japanese) full-length novel, in any genre, that has not been submitted to other competitions. The judges include manga creator Kousuke Fujishima (Aa Megami-sama), light novelist Yomi Hirasaka (Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai), and director Shin Oonuma (Baka and Test - Summon the Beasts).

The Kodansha Box imprint, the electronic magazine AiR, and King Record's Starchild label run a separate BOX-AiR program which offers to "consider" adapting the monthly published writings into anime. However, unlike BOX-AiR, the organizers of the 1st Kodansha Light Novel Bunko New Author Prize state without qualifications that their Grand Prize-winning entry will be made into anime.

Source: Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web

Update: More background information added.