I keep saying there's tons of untapped talent out there. Well, here's your chance to prove me right.

LavaMind is hosting a manga contest and wants you to show them your stuff. Here's the dish, direct from LavaMind:

The contest is for aspiring magna artists of exceptional talent. Submit your original work and win a development deal with LavaMind.

The difference between this contest and other contests out there is that we're interested in raw, unadulterated talent.

We don't expect you to have a finished manga or be a polished professional. We're looking for that spark of brilliance that we can help to develop.

The other key difference is that we don't expect you to do it alone. Maybe you're talented at drawing characters but you cannot do scenery, or maybe your story telling skills aren't quite there yet. We're open to putting you together with other talented artists, story tellers, manga inkers, manga toners, and experienced producers so that together you can create something bigger and better than any of you could do on your own. This is what we call development.

The winners of our contest will be offered a development deal with LavaMind, where they will work as an extension of our company to produce a complete manga series. LavaMind will then work to license and distribute this series in as many countries around the world as possible. We believe in the creative process, and we hope to nurture the next generation of great American manga artists.

To submit your original sample work to LavaMind, please go to the following web site:

http://www.lavamind.com/manga.html

Please do not email us any submissions. We only accept submissions that meet the guidelines outlined on our web site. Please follow the guidelines carefully. Thanks, and we look forward to hearing from you.

Sounds like a sweet deal, yes? Just remember when you've hit the big time that you got the scoop right here. The least you could do is give me an exclusive :)

Good luck!