Awards in the Comics Industry
September 8th, 2007 by Editors
By Pádraig Ó Méalóid
There are four main ongoing English language comics’ awards, three in the US, and one more in the UK. These are:
* The Will Eisner Comics Industry Awards or Eisners (US)
* The Harvey Kurtzman Awards or Harveys (US)
* The Ignatz Awards (US)
* The Eagle Awards or Eagles (UK)
The Will Eisner Comics Industry Awards
The Eisners really are the most prestigious of the four English language comics awards. They’re named after the late great Will Eisner, who truly needs no introduction. Just in case, however, I’ll mention that he wrote The Spirit, a big bunch of original graphic novels, and is even said to have originated the term Graphic Novel.
The Eisners are awarded each year at the San Diego Comic-Con International, the largest and oldest comics convention in the United States, which had an attendance of over 63,000 in 2006. There are awards in well over twenty categories, from Best Writer to Best Publication Design.
The award nominations are decided by a blue-ribbon committee from thousands of entries submitted by publishers and creators. The nominations shortlist is then voted on by people in all parts of the comic book industry: from the creators, like writers and artists to the various business people, like publishers and editors, and retailers and distributors.
The Eisner Awards were established in 1987. The award’s administrator is Jackie Estrada (who is married to Batton Lash, by the way, whose excellent Supernatural Law you should all be reading).
The 2007 Eisner Award winners can be seen here.
The Harvey Kurtzman Awards
The Harveys are named after the late Harvey Kurtzman, who founded Mad Magazine in 1952, as well as doing much else in the industry.
The Harveys are awarded annually, and have been hosted at various comic cons over the years. They are currently awarded at the Baltimore Comic-Con, where they have been since 2005. There are 21 categories, from Best Writer to Best Domestic Reprint Project.
The award nominations are decided voting amongst comics professionals and publishers, who can nominate up to five entries in each category. The top five nominees go to the final ballot.
The Harvey Kurtzman Awards have been in existence since 1988. The award’s administrator is apparently Paul McSpadden.
The 2007 nominees can be seen here, on the site’s front page (although this will presumably have changed to the winners after the weekend).
The Ignatz Awards
The Ignatz Awards are named after Ignatz the mouse, from George Herriman’s comic strip Krazy Kat.
The Ignatzs are awarded each year at the annual Small Press Expo, or SPX, in Bethesda, Maryland, a weekend convention and tradeshow showcasing creator-owned comics. The 2006 awards had ten categories, from Outstanding Artist to Outstanding Online Comic (but no award for Best Writer, it seems).
The award nominations are decided by a panel of five cartoonists and are then voted on by the attendees at the event.
The Ignatz Awards have been awarded each year since 1997, but skipped a year in 2001 due to the World trade Centre bombing. The award’s coordinator is Greg McElhatton.
The 2007 awards will be held over the weekend of October 12th and 13th, but there is no shortlist as yet.
The Eagle Awards
The Eagle Awards are named after Eagle, a UK comic founded by the Reverend Marcus Morris, which ran from 1950 to 1969, and which really need no further introduction.
The Eagles are awarded each year in May at the Bristol Comic Expo. There are awards in well 28 categories, from Favourite Comics Writer to Favourite Web-Based Comic.
The award nominations are made by the general comics-reading public via the Eagle Awards website then the five most popular became nominees for the awards, which are then again voted on by the general public.
The Eagle Awards were established in 1976, although they have missed several years here and there, and were replaced from 1997 to 2002 by the National Comics Award. The award’s administrator is not evident from the site, or by searching the net.
The winners of the current Eagle Awards can be found here.
Other Awards
The following additional awards are ongoing at the moment. Most of the award descriptions have been taken from Wikipedia.
The National Cartoonists Society Awards or Reubens are primarily for newspaper strips. Past winers have included Milton Caniff and Ronald Searle.
The Lulu Awards are run by Friends of Lulu, an organization whose main purpose is to promote and encourage female readership and participation in the comic book industry. The 2007 winners are here.
The Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award is an award presented to a comic book artist whose first professional work appeared within the previous two years. It was named after the famous American comic book artist Russ Manning. The winner is chosen from a list of nominees picked by judges from the West Coast Comics Club and Comic-Con International, and is given at the Eisner Award ceremony.
The Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing is an American award for comic book writers who were not sufficiently honored for their work in the medium. It is presented annually to two writers, one living and one dead, along with the Eisner Awards at Comic-Con. It was established by Bill Finger colleague and fellow writer Jerry Robinson. The award is presented in July of each year at the annual San Diego Comic-Con. The selection committee is chaired by Mark Evanier.
The Doug Wright Awards for Canadian Cartooning are named for Canadian cartoonist Doug Wright, and honor the best in English-language comics and graphic novels. The awards are chosen by a jury of five, based on selections provided by a nomination committee. Awards are given out each year in two categories, “Best Book” and “Best Emerging Talent”.
The Inkpot Award, bestowed annually since 1974 by Comic-Con International, is given to professionals in comic book, comic strip, animation, science fiction, and related pop-culture fields, who are guests of that organization’s yearly San Diego Comic-Con. Also eligible are members of Comic-Con’s Board of Directors and convention committee.
The Joe Shuster Awards (sometimes referred to as the “Shusters” or the “JSAs”) are given for achievement in comic books by Canadians. The full name is the Joe Shuster Awards for Canadian Comic Book Creators. The Joe Shuster Awards were created in 2005 by the Canadian Comic Book Creator Awards Association – (James Waley, Chief Coordinator; Kevin A. Boyd, Associate Coordinator) and are named in honor of Joe Shuster (1914-1992), the Canadian-born co-creator of Superman.
The Joe Shuster Awards are nominated by a committee made up of industry journalists and fans from across Canada. The top five (sometimes six) nominees in each category are placed on a ballot. The ballot is open to a national public vote (restricted to Canadian citizens and residents) from which the winners are chosen.
The Ledger Awards have been organized to ‘acknowledge excellence in Australian comic art and publishing’. Named after pioneering Australian cartoonist Peter Ledger (1945 – 1994), the awards were first held in 2005 to help promote and focus attention on Australian creators and their projects, both in Australia and overseas. The awards are held annually and announced online on or around Australia Day, January 26th.
The Ledger Awards are presented under the auspices of LitterArtsy, a non-profit coalition of creators, publishers and web sites promoting literacy, creativity, craft and excellence through comics and sequential art.
The current co-ordinator of the Awards is Gary Chaloner, writer/artist of Will Eisner’s John Law.
