KADOKAWA Launches Global Isekai Writing Contest with MyAnimeList and Honeyfeed for 2025
Submit your original isekai story to KADOKAWA’s 2025 global contest for a chance to win $5,000 and get published in Japan
KADOKAWA Corporation started a new writing contest again, this time focused on the isekai genre. It’s called the MyAnimeList x Honeyfeed Writing Contest 2025 – THE ISEKAI. People from many countries can join. It starts from July 7, 2025.
The project is part of KADOKAWA’s bigger plan for finding original works from overseas writers. They called it the Global UGC Publishing Project. The main idea is to look for new talent that could bring different kinds of stories, even if it is still inside the isekai genre. You know, the stories where a character dies or something and ends up in a fantasy place.
Submissions will be through Honeyfeed, which is a web novel site managed by Qdopp Inc. After that, public voting will be held on MyAnimeList. Those two platforms have worked together on things like this before.
This year, the contest asked writers to try something fresh. Not just the same hero-goes-to-other-world story. They want ideas that twist the genre or change the pattern, so it’s not the usual thing. KADOKAWA hoping for stories that one day might be as big as Sword Art Online or Re:ZERO or Shield Hero. That kind of level.
Here’s how the schedule will go:
- Entry Period: July 7 – September 29, 2025
- Judging Time: September 30 – November 16, 2025
- Voting from Public: November 17 – December 15, 2025
- Winner Announced: February 9, 2026
Grand prize winners might get $5,000 and even a chance to be published in Japan. But that will depend on quality—they said there may be no Grand Prize if it’s not strong enough. If no one wins the main prize, up to two people can get a second prize of $3,000 each.
Aneko Yusagi, who wrote The Rising of the Shield Hero, will join as a guest judge. That story also started online, then turned into a popular light novel and anime. Season 4 of it comes next month.
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Satoshi Arima, the main editor of MF BOOKS, talked about how light novels from outside Japan are becoming more visible. He said that foreign creators are doing light novel-style writing more now, and Japan should look toward that. Many stories from other places might actually fit well with Japanese readers, too.
This isn’t a new thing. MyAnimeList and Honeyfeed already had another writing contest with NOVELOUS before. That one is now in the voting phase for the finalists.
In the end, this new isekai contest gives English writers a pretty rare shot. It’s not just prize money. It’s a chance to maybe have a story published in Japan. With isekai still staying popular, the timing for this couldn’t be more right.
The full guidelines and submission details can be found at: https://mhwc.myanimelist.net/202507/
Written By “Sujoy Bhowmik - India Today Gaming”
