comic book awards

I have a long blog entry brewing to follow-up on my recent British women in comics post. I’ve been collecting information and resources, and I’ll be putting it all together pretty soon.

In the mean time the Kapow! Comic Book convention has announced the short-list for its Stan Lee Awards.

I’m staggered by its exclusive emphasis on the big-name titles, with a couple of bones thrown to the Independents.  The awards purport to be ‘a fantastic platform to reward the cream of comic book talent for all their creativity and imagination throughout 2010’.

Well, it’s certainly celebrating a very narrow creative band of the industry.

So, who assembled this short-list?

Those who submitted nominations for The Stan Lee Awards 2011 included Seth Rogen (Green Hornet, Superbad, Knocked Up), Clark Duke (Kick-Ass, Hot Tub Time Machine) Chris Hewitt at Empire, Mike Rampton at Front, Samuel Roberts at SciFiNow, Jes Bickham at Comic Heroes, Robbie Collin at News of the World, Chris Tilly and Richard George at IGN, Jonah & Kiel from Comic Book Resources website, Forbidden Planet Megastore London, as well as co-creator and writer of Lost and producer of Star Trek, Damon Lindelof amongst others.

I bet all of you reading this can spot what I don’t see: any nominations from women. I would find it a hilarious irony if someone was to inform me female input came from ‘amongst others’.

Voting closes on the Stan Lee Awards on 4 March.

Now I’ll shoo you all over to the Eagle Awards, which is currently accepting nominations from anyone with a legitimate email account. Get over there and give your favourite comic book writers/artists/publishers your love!

If you want your opinions/tastes reflected in the industry then nominate!

I don’t expect anyone to vote on gender lines. Vote for your favourites. What titles excited you? What ones did you reach for first from your pile? Let the Eagle Awards know. Don’t put it off. Do it now.

I nominated last night.

The top five in every category (and there are tons of categories) will make it onto the short-list and voting will begin on 14 March.

The Eagle Awards will be announced on 27 May at the London MCM Expo.

I should also mention that the Eisner Awards is looking for submissions, although this is a different kettle of sharks with laser beams as only comic book publishers can offer work for consideration.

Still, the deadline is 4 March.

The short-list will be announced in April, and voting will be available to professionals in the comics industry, including creators, editors, publishers, distributors, and retailers.

The results will be announced at the awards ceremony on the evening of July 22 at Comic-Con in San Diego.