Manga Artist Shigeru Mizuki, best known for his critically acclaimed Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro manga, has another award to add to his resume. His manga Non Non Ba to Ore (Non Non Ba and Me) has won the award for "Best Comic Book" at the largest Comic Festival in Europe, the Angouleme International Comics Festival. Although manga have been a part of the festival before, this is the first time a Japanese artist has won such a prestigious award.

Traditionally, the festival has been dedicated to Franco-Belgian comics, such as the legendary Tintin series by Herge. This year, 500 square meters of space was dedicated to manga-themed exhibits.

A full list of the festival winners is available from the English Language Site
for the festival:

http://www.bdangouleme.com/index.ideal?langue=en

And will the US ever see this? Unless vertical decides to release it (thank them for many wonderful editions of tezuka books) are we ever going to see this get released in the US?

I'm so envious of the manga market in France, they get all the good manga that we miss out on.... Satoshi Kon's Kaikisen, Iou Kuroda's Nasu, etc...