I was reading Gosho Aoyama's bio on Wikipedia. Then I read this in it.
Awards and recognition
Aoyama has won two awards for his work as a manga artist. In 1992, he won the Shogakukan Manga Award for shōnen for the Yaiba manga series.[1] He would then go on to win the same award for a second time in 2001, this time for Detective Conan.[3]
Additionally, his hometown Hokuei has done several machi okoshi (town revitalization) projects in honor of his contribution as a manga artist and resident of the town. The first projects were the Conan Bridge across the Yura River and the Conan statues in the town; both of these structures pay tribute to Conan Edogawa, Aoyama's most popular character from Detective Conan.[4] On March 18, 2007, the Gosho Aoyama Manga Factory, a museum that celebrates Aoyama's career as a manga artist, was opened in the same town.[5]
HAMTARO
Gosho Aoyama, was also involved with the "Hamtaro" anime, as he designed and drew most of the human characters.
Link for it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gosho_Aoyama
This is actually the first time I him up and what I just posted I thought was pretty cool when I read it.