Chip Zdarsky won a Harvey Award this past weekend at Baltimore Comic-Con, but he isn't celebrating. As the artist and writer explained in a post on his Tumblr, he's declining to accept the Harvey Special Award for Humor, because it only recognizes his work on Image Comics hit "Sex Criminals,", not the book's writer, Matt Fraction.

"It's nice having people realize how special I am and how humor I am, and I truly appreciate everyone who voted for me, but the award, as it stands, doesn't make a lot of sense," Zdarsky wrote. "The fact that I was nominated for a humor award for 'Sex Criminals' without the writer of said series, my beloved chum, Matt Fraction, is wrong. On every level. I pointed this out to the Harvey Awards and told them I wished to have Matt on the ballot with me, or to remove me completely, and they declined to do either."

Zdarsky shared that a representative for the Harveys responded to his request, saying that altering the nomination was "not a judgment call for us to make." Zdarsky further suggested that the award be amended in the future to "Best Humor Publication," recognizing the end result of a collaboration, not an individual creator; or limit the award to true one-person operations like Ryan Browne or Kate Beaton. "Let's make this category reflect the teams who deserve it," Zdarsky wrote. "Until then, I can't accept the award." He first expressed his concerns with the award in July, shortly after the nomination was announced.

"If, for some reason, it's already en route to me, I'll just carve Matt's name into it and raffle it off for the Hero Initiative," Zdarsky concluded.

First held in 1988 and named after comics legend Harvey Kurtzman, the Harvey Awards are awarded annually, and voted on by comics professionals. CBR has reached out to the Harvey Awards for comment on Zdarsky's statement.