Announcing the Winners for the Madman Studio Ghibli Giveaway Competition!

To celebrate the Australian release of the latest Studio Ghibli classic Arrietty on Blu-ray and DVD, Madman gave you the chance to win some awesome prizes last month, including one major prize of the complete Madman Studio Ghibli collection on Blu-ray (for titles that are available on Blu-ray) and DVD (for titles that are currently only available on DVD), and 5 runner-up prizes of Arrietty on DVD or Blu-ray.

The response was simply overwhelming, and it took me hours and hours to collate and look through all the entries. Ben from Madman kindly took the time to judge the entries with me. After careful consideration, we have chosen our winners, and the prizes will be sent to them very soon! 

The following 5 readers have each won a copy of Arrietty on Blu-ray:

Jason Reed: "My favourite Ghibli film would have to be Pom Poko! Raccoons that use their scrotums to hang glide, their testicles as weapons and all in the name of conservation?! Now that takes balls!" 

Huy Le: "Spirited Away. Not only is the film a masterpiece, but the making-of video is great! Miyazaki makes me hungry every time I see him cook his 'Poor Man's Salt Flavoured Ramen' for his staff!" 

David Ung: "My Neighbour Totoro, I watched it when I was a young boy that didn't understand Japanese but kept watching it over and over, in between running around my house looking for those black creatures." 

Michelle Tarpey: "Spirited Away. First of two Studio Ghibli films I watched with my Mum before she passed; she fell in love with it (and Howl's). Mum getting me to imitate No-Face is a bittersweet memory."

Henry Tang: "Porco Rosso! I'm an artist, and Porco Rosso taught me one of the most important lessons in my creative life- If you set your imagination free, you'll find the magic that can make pigs fly." 

Now, for the much sought after First Prize... The Winner Is: Erin McKenzie. Congratulations, Erin! You have won everything shown in the picture above. The winning entry: 

"Totoro has my heart,

It's where my love for Ghibli did start.

Exquisite storytelling

and characters compelling -

I consider it a work of art.

Plus, I just really adore that amazing Catbus."

(Erin also drew the amazing fan art that is shown at the top of this article.)

Once again, thank you to Madman for giving away these prizes and to everyone who entered the competition. Keep an eye out for upcoming competitions in the near future, and good luck!