The Akatsuka Award is a semi-annual award presented to comdey centric mangakas by the Japanese publisher Shueisha.

The award was named after Fujio Akatsuka, one of the most successful gag manga artists. Since 1974, it was started to reward new mangaka in the Comedy Manga category. Its counterpart award, Tezuka Award, awards new mangaka in the Story Manga category. Its named after the legendary Osamu Tezuka.

The Tezuka Award is for the New Comic Artists in the Story Manga category whereas Akatsuka award is offerd for the Comedic Manga category.

The purpose of the awards is to cultivate new artists or also called Mangakas.