Ignatz Award
Awarded forOutstanding achievements in comics and cartooning by small press creators or creator-owned projects published by larger publishers
LocationBethesda, Maryland
CountryUnited States
Presented byIgnatz Award Committee
Hosted bySmall Press Expo
First awarded1997
Websitewww.smallpressexpo.com/ignatz-awards

The Ignatz Awards recognize outstanding achievements in comics and cartooning by small press creators or creator-owned projects published by larger publishers. They have been awarded each year at the Small Press Expo since 1997,[1] only skipping a year in 2001 due to the show's cancellation after the September 11 attacks.[2] As of 2014 SPX has been held in either Bethesda, North Bethesda, or Silver Spring, Maryland.

The Ignatz Awards are named in honour of George Herriman and his strip Krazy Kat, which featured a brick-throwing mouse named Ignatz.[3]

Awards criteria

As one of the few festival awards rewarded in comics, the Ignatz Awards are voted on by attendees of the annual Small Press Expo (SPX, or The Expo, its corporate name), a weekend convention and tradeshow showcasing creator-owned comics. Nominations for the Ignatz Awards are made by a five-member jury panel consisting of comic book professionals.[4]

The jury panel remains anonymous (from both the public as well as each other) until the announcement of the awards. After a 1999 controversy involving juror Frank Cho,[a] jurors are now prohibited from nominating their own work. However, there is no prohibition of one jury member's work being nominated for an award by his or her fellow jurors.

History

The first comics industry awards given the title "Ignatz" originated at the OrlandoCon,[6] held in Orlando, Florida, from 1974 to 1994.[3] The current Ignatz Awards are not connected with OrlandoCon. The SPX Ignatz Awards were conceived in 1996 by SPX organizer Chris Oarr and cartoonist Ed Brubaker. Their original mandate, to set the Ignatz apart from "mainstream" awards like the Eisner Awards, was that the work nominated be creator-owned, and focus more on work done by a single writer/artist.[citation needed]

The Award was administered by Jeff Alexander from 1998 to 2006,[7] when they were taken over by Greg McElhatton.[7] During his tenure as Ignatz Award Coordinator, Alexander drew a strip for the annual award program in George Herriman's style.[7][8]

Award categories

The Ignatz is awarded in the following categories:

Discontinued categories

Award winners and nominees

Outstanding Artist

Outstanding Anthology

Outstanding Collection

Outstanding Graphic Novel

Outstanding Story

Promising New Talent

Outstanding Series

Outstanding Comic

Outstanding Minicomic

Outstanding Online Comic

Outstanding Anthology or Collection (discontinued)

Outstanding Graphic Novel or Collection (discontinued)

Outstanding Debut Comic (discontinued)

Ignatz Awards Jury

Ignatz Awards Committee

Notes

  1. ^ As a 1999 juror, Cho nominated his own book Liberty Meadows (which ended up winning two 1999 Ignatzes, for Outstanding Artist and Outstanding Comic). Ed Brubaker, one of the original jurors and developers of the award, criticized that year's jury for their lack of support and acknowledgment of independent works, and for allowing self-nomination. Brubaker also questioned whether the guidelines he and Expo board member Chris Oarr had developed for the Awards were provided to that year's judges. Cho defended his decision, stating that in his opinion few of the submissions he received as a judge were deserving of nomination, and that the Ignatz coordinator he consulted instructed him to use his own judgment, as there were no rules against self-nomination.[5]
  2. ^ After winning, Stotts arranged to have her Ignatz Award smashed with a sledgehammer, and the shards individually mounted onto separate wooden bases with engraved nameplates, so that she could give a piece of the award to each of the contributors to her anthology.[10]

References

Citations

  1. ^ "Small Press Expo Initiates First Festival Prize for Comic Books: Ignatz Award". Comics Buyer's Guide. September 12, 1997. p. 8.
  2. ^ "2001 Ignatz Award Nominees". Comic Book Awards Almanac. Hahn Library. The Small Press Expo was scheduled for Sept. 14-15, 2001 in Bethesda, Maryland, but was cancelled due to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The Ignatz is a festival prize determined by a ballot of attendees and exhibitors of the Expo, and, as such, the results of the voting are unique to the environment found at the Expo. The Expo steering committee decided that to hold the Ignatzes without a way to ensure similar results would not be fair to the recipients nor in keeping with the spirit of the award. Therefore, the awards were cancelled for the year.
  3. ^ a b Tea (April 25, 2018). "Ask A Cartoonist: What We've Learned from Krazy Kat". Comics Kingdom.
  4. ^ Hahn, Joel (2006). "Ignatz Awards". Comic Book Awards Almanac. Retrieved September 23, 2014.
  5. ^ McKenney, Craig (October 22, 1999). "Ignatz Under Fire: Cho Defends Self-Nomination". The Comics Journal. No. 217. pp. 23–24. Archived from the original on March 24, 2012.
  6. ^ Harvey, R. C. (January 2000). "Blood & Thunder: Two for Cho". The Comics Journal. No. 219. p. 3. ...the Ignatz Award was originated in the '70s at the Orlando Con, a pioneering comic convention staged mainly by Jim Ivey.
  7. ^ a b c McElhatton, Greg (January 30, 2011). "Goodbye, Jeff". GregMcE.com.
  8. ^ MacDonald, Heidi (January 31, 2011). "RIP: Jeff Alexander". The Beat.
  9. ^ a b c Wolk, Douglas (November 8, 2004). "Small Press Expo Draws Record Crowd". Publishers Weekly.
  10. ^ TYRRELL, GARY (April 25, 2018). "Busy Packing". Fleen: The Awkward Christmas Dinner Of Our Obligation To Existence.
  11. ^ Xunise, Bianca (September 30, 2016). "The Weight of Being Black in America". The Nib.
  12. ^ "Casting Its Own Shadow". News Watch. The Comics Journal. No. 217. November 1999. pp. 21–23.

Resources

External links

American comic book industry awards
Categories