The winners of the British Comic Awards were announced last night at the Thought Bubble Festival in Leeds, England. They are:

Best Comic: Grey Area: From the City to the Sea, by Tim Bird (Avery Hill Publishing)

Best Book: The Motherless Oven, by Rob Davis (Selfmade Hero)

Young People’s Comic Award: Star Cat, by James Turner (David Fickling Books)

Emerging Talent: Rachael Stott for her artwork on Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor (SDCC Exclusive), Star Trek #46 -47 and Star Trek/Planet of the Apes: The Primate Directive

Hall of Fame: Dudley D. Watkins

That's an interestingly eclectic list. The Motherless Oven, which was also nominated for an Eisner Award, is a strange, surreal story — you can get an idea of it from the artwork Rob Davis included in his review at The Forbidden Planet. I haven't read Grey Area: From the City to the Sea yet, but Andy Oliver describes it as "psychogeographical comics narratives." So, two very artsy/literary titles.

And then you have Rachel Stott being honored for her work on Doctor Who and Star Trek comics, and the Hall of Fame nomination going to Dudley D. Watkins, creator of Oor Wullie and The Broons, and the artist behind one of my favorite comics characters of all time, Desperate Dan — showing a willingness to acknowledge quality work in more commercial media. Toss in a kids' comic from David Fickling Books, a publisher closely affiliated with the excellent children's weekly comic The Phoenix, and you have a really broad range of work worth celebrating.