Got this press release yesterday - the Glyph Awards are neat, so I thought I'd share the press release with y'all.
SUBMISSIONS FOR THE 2008 GLYPH COMICS AWARDS ARE NOW BEING ACCEPTED; JUDGES NAMED
This past May, history was made at the Glyph Comics Awards (GCA) when the graphic novel Stagger Lee walked away with a record-breaking four award wins, including Story of the Year. Now, the GCA Committee continues its mission to honor the best in black comics and creators by opening submissions for the 2008 competition.
Nine of the ten awards are selected by a panel of judges, led by Committee Chair and awards founder Rich Watson. The tenth is voted on by the fans in a special online ballot. The rest of this year's judges are:
- Cheryl Lynn Eaton, comics journalist and founder of the Ormes Society
- Prof. William Foster, comics historian and lecturer
- Tony Isabella, comics writer and columnist
- Katherine Keller, editor-in-chief, Sequential Tart
Any comics publisher - small, large, corporate, independent, self-published - as well as online comic creators and cartoonists for newspapers and other periodicals, are invited to submit black-themed material released from January 1-December 31, 2007 for consideration for award recognition. The Committee defines black-themed work as any comic with any combination of the following: a black protagonist(s), or at least a black character(s) pivotal to the direction of the story; a setting(s) or a theme(s) that explores the black experience within the United States and/or abroad, past, present, and/or future; and/or a comic of any kind written and/or illustrated by a black creator(s).
Anyone wishing to submit their comic book or comic strip for consideration in the 2008 competition should e-mail rich.watson@gmail.com for further information. Hard copies are preferred, though submissions of e-files will also be accepted. Online comics creators and newspaper/periodical cartoonists with websites should send a direct URL link to their site or page. Daily cartoonists must have a minimum of one month's work archived and available for viewing; weekly cartoonists a minimum of two months. The deadline for submissions is January 20, 2008.
The 2008 Glyph Comics Awards ceremony will be held at the East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention in May 2008.
About the Glyph Comics Awards:
The Glyph Comics Awards recognize the best in comics made by, for, and about people of color from the preceding calendar year. While it is not exclusive to black creators, it does strive to honor those who have made the greatest contributions to the comics medium in terms of both critical and commercial impact. By doing so, the goal is to encourage more diverse and high quality work across the board and to inspire new creators to add their voices to the field.
The awards are named for the blog Glyphs: The Language of the Black Comics Community (http://glyphs.popcultureshock.com), started in 2005 by comics journalist Rich Watson as a means to provide news and commentary of comics with black themes, as well as tangential topics in the fields of black science-fiction/fantasy and animation.
About ECBACC:
The East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention (www.ecbacc.com), in association with the Temple University Pan-African Studies Community Education Program, is an annual gathering of comic book creators and retailers who create and sell material that caters to black readers of all ages. In addition to selling their work, they also take part in panel discussions and self-publishing workshops for aspiring creators. The convention is held on the Temple University campus in Philadelphia each May. There is also a pre-show reception held at the African American Museum in Philadelphia. ECBACC is an outgrowth of the original Black Age of Comics Convention in Chicago, founded by Turtel Onli.
For more information about ECBACC, contact event coordinator Maurice Waters at maurice.waters@ecbacc.com.