The big news about this year's Ignatz Awards, presented over the weekend at the Small Press Expo in Bethesda, Maryland, is that all the winners were women.
The second piece of big news is that Sophia Foster-Dimino took home three awards, while Sophie Goldstein won two.
Named in honor of the brick-wielding mouse in George Herriman’s Krazy Kat strip, the Ignatz Awards recognize achievement in comics and cartooning. Nominees are selected by a panel of five cartoonists, and then voted on by SPX attendees.
The last time all the winners were male was, by my reckoning, 2003. Three of this year's winners — Lilli Carré, Jillian Tamaki and Goldstein — have won Ignatzes in the past.
Here's the full list of winners:
Outstanding Artist
Emily Carroll, Through the Woods
Outstanding Anthology or Collection
How to Be Happy, by Eleanor Davis
Outstanding Graphic Novel
The Oven, by Sophie Goldstein
Outstanding Story
"Sex Coven," by Jillian Tamaki (Frontier #7)
Promising New Talent
Sophia Foster-Dimino (Sphincter; Sex Fantasy)
Outstanding Series
Sex Fantasy, by Sophia Foster-Dimino
Outstanding Comic
The Oven, by Sophie Goldstein
Outstanding Minicomic
Sex Fantasy #4, by Sophia Foster-Dimino
Outstanding Online Comic
The Bloody Footprint, by Lilli Carré