Prism Comics, the nonprofit group that supports lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender creators and comics, has opened submissions for this year's Queer Press Grant.

The grant is awarded to writers/artists or teams working on comic books, comic strips, webcomics or graphic novels with significant LGBT characters and themes. Creators don't need to be LGBT to apply; entries are judged by the Prism board and past recipients based first on artistic merit, and then financial need, proposal presentation and the work's contributions to the LGBT community.

"The Queer Press Grant is a significant resource to help promote LGBT themes in independent comics, and to support up-and-coming cartoonists bringing their projects into the world," Justin Hall, Prism's talent relations chair, said in a statement. "Every year, the QPG gives both financial support and extra publicity to a worthy recipient."

Past winners include Robert Kirby, Eric Orner, Megan Gedris and Ed Luce.

Guidelines can be found on the Prism website. The deadline is Oct. 1, with the winner announced at the Oct. 13-14 Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco.