Another award has been added to the comics kudos circuit, and it aims to be a prestigious one. Pop Culture Classroom, the educational non-profit behind Denver Comic Con, is promoting the Excellence in Graphic Literature Awards. The awards hope to “help grow awareness, legitimacy and respect for the comics medium, the graphic novel format and its creators, and drive growth for the graphic novel publishing category.” To this end, the EGLs are fashioned to reflect the interests of the library and educator markets.
The EGLs are chosen via a judging committees and each award has a chair as follows;
- Best in Children’s Books — Committee Chair: Betsy Bird
- Best in Middle Grade Books — Committee Chair: Dr. Katie Monnin
- Best in Young Adult Books — Committee Chair: Mike Pawuk
- Best in Adult Books — Committee Chair: Alicia Holston
- Mosaic Award — Committee Chair: Alicia Holston
- Book of the Year — Committee Chair: Betsy Bird
The first year’s finalists shave just been announced – it’s a strong list reflecting the excellence of last year’s graphic novels. And yes it includes 2017’s most honored book, My Aavorite Thing is Monsters.
You can see more about the awards, including criteria and judges – and a livestream of the announcement – here.
Finalists: Best in Children’s Books
Fiction
- Bolivar by Sean Rubin (BOOM! Studios)
- Good Night, Planet by Liniers (TOON Books)
- Real Friends by Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham (First Second)
- The Big Bad Fox by Benjamin Renner (Macmillan)
- Where’s Halmoni? By Julie Kim (Little Bigfoot)
Nonfiction
- Bats: Learning to Fly by Falynn (Koch First Second)
Finalists: Best in Middle-Grade Books
Fiction
- As the Crow Flies by Melanie Gillman (Iron Circus Comics)
- Cici’s Journal by Joris Chamblain and Aurelie Neyret (First Second)
- Dawn and the Impossible Three by Ann M. Martin and Gale Galligan (Scholastic Graphix)
- Solution Squad by Jim McClain (Solution Squad Publishing)
- Soupy Leaves Home by Cecil Castellucci and Jose Pimienta (Dark Horse Comics)
- The Witch Boy by Molly Ostertag (Scholastic Graphix)
- Brave by Svetlana Chmakova (YEN Press)**
** Honorable Mention
Finalists: Best in Young Adult Books
Fiction
- Home Time: Book One by Campbell Whyte (Top Shelf)
- I Am Alfonso Jones by Tony Medina, Stacey Robinson and John Jennings (TU Books/Lee & Low)
- Quince by Sebastian Kadlecik, Kit Steinkellner and Emma Steinkellner (Fanbase Press)
- Spill Zone by Scott Westerfield and Alex Puvilland (First Second)
- The Wendy Project by Melissa Jane Osborne and Veronica Fish (Supergenius/Papercutz)
Nonfiction
- Fire! The Zora Neale Hurston Story by Peter Bagge (Drawn & Quarterly)
- Lighter Than My Shadow by Katie Green (Lion Forge)
- Poppies of Iraq by Brigitte Finakly and Lewis Trondheim (Drawn & Quarterly)
- The Senses by Matteo Farinella (Nobrow Press)
- Spinning by Tillie Walden (First Second)
Finalists: Best in Adult Books
Fiction
- Mis(h)adra by Iasmin Omar Ata (Gallery 13)
- My Favorite Thing is Monsters by Emil Ferris (Fantagraphics)
- Park Bench by Christophe Chaboute (Gallery 13)
- Roughneck by Jeff Lemiere (Gallery 13)
- The Sound of the World by Heart by Giacomo Bevilacqua (Lion Forge)
Nonfiction
- Calamity Jane: The Calamitous Life of Martha Jane Cannary by Christian Perrissin and Mattheiu Blanchin (IDW Publishing)
- Hostage by Guy Delisle (Drawn & Quarterly)
- Taking Turns: Stories from HIV/AIDS Care Unit 371 (Penn State University Press)
- The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui (Abrams Comic Arts)
- The Hunting Accident by David L. Carlson and Landis Blair (First Second)
Finalists: Mosaic Award
- As the Crow Flies by Melanie Gillman (Iron Circus Comics)
- Good Night, Planet by Liniers (TOON-Books) Spanish and English lang. versions
- Monstress Vol. 2 by Marjorie Liu and (Image)
- Mis(h)adra by Iasmin Omar Ata (Gallery 13)
- Quince by Sebastian Kadlecik, Kit Steinkellner and Emma Steinkellner (Fanbase Press)
- Soupy Leaves Home by Cecil Castellucci and Jose Pimienta (Dark Horse Comics)
- The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui (Abrams Comic Arts)
- Where’s Halmoni? By Julie Kim (Little Bigfoot)
Finalists: Book of the Year
- Bats: Learning to Fly by Falynn Koch (First Second)
- Cici’s Journal by Joris Chamblain and Aurelie Neyret (First Second)
- Home Time: Book One by Campbell Whyte (Top Shelf)
- My Favorite Thing is Monsters by Emil Ferris (Fantagraphics)
- Real Friends by Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham (First Second)
- Soupy Leaves Home by Cecil Castellucci and Jose Pimienta (Dark Horse Comics)
- Spill Zone by Scott Westerfield and Alex Puvilland (First Second)
- The Hunting Accident by David L. Carlson and Landis Blair (First Second)
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