Contest judge, Navied Mahdavian remarked, "Memory is linked with smell, probably more so than any of our other senses. Behind its simple title (no, this is not just a “smell map”) and presentation (a single image), “Smell Map of Kyoto in October” is a moving graphic essay that explores the medium of comics in an unexpected way: through smell. It gestures towards the place the way memory does. It is subtle; a trace of an experience. It is less about the place and more about the person. And it is playful: as a reader, I feel like I’m now part of the process of not just the writing, but of trying to create a conventional travel document."