The winners to Kodansha's recent competition have been revealed & unnexpectedly there are only two winners this tie around as the judges felt that the quality gap between the two winners & the other finalists was too large to consider a third place. Furthermore, the fourth competition will be the 'Morning International Comic Competition' because in the words of Chief Judge, Eijiro Shimada:

"Finally, as has been the case in each of these contests, many of the current entries have focused on bishojo, giant robots, ninja and the like, leaving a very narrow impression of "manga" style. As the judges are Japanese, we are biased toward a more creative association for the word that foreigners have come to know as "MANGA." We cannot define exactly what manga is, but our version of manga is much broader in context and content. Nowadays Japan uses labels like "American Comics," "Bande Dessinée," and "Cartoons." Ten years ago, however, the Japanese language would apply the word "manga" to encompass all sequential art. With that in mind we originally called this contest the Morning International Manga Competion, but that name is no longer adequate."
 

The Judges comments on the shortcomings of each story are brutally honest. Entries to the fourth compettion are now being accepted, with a deadline set at December 31st 2009.