The wave of promising young female cartoonists that we’ve all been seeing change the face of comics got a bit of an endorsement with the release of this year’s nominees for the Russ Manning the Russ Manning Promising Newcomer Award.

The Manning Award, as it’s commonly know, is presented every year at the San Diego Comic-Con as part of the Eisner Awards to “a comics artist who, early in his or her career, shows a superior knowledge and ability in the art of creating comics.”

The 2016 nominees are:

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Daniel Bayliss, artist of Kennel Block Blues and Translucid (BOOM! Studios)

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Leila del Duca, artist of Shutter (Image)

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Dan Mora, artist of Klaus and Hexed! (BOOM! Studios)

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Marguerite Sauvage, artist of Bombshells (DC) and Scarlet Witch (Marvel)

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Tillie Walden, writer/artist of I Love This Part and The End of Summer (Avery Hill)

As you can see, three of the five are women, which will be no surprise to anyone who has been watching the rising stars of comics of late. For a period a few years ago, three stragiht Manning awards werew on by women, so it’s not a new phenomenon either. Del Duca was nominated last year, as well.

The award is named after Magnus Robot Fighter and Star Wars artist Russ Manning and nominees are selected by a panel consisting of board and committee members of Comic-Con International, a comics retailer, and comics artist. Previous winners include Dave Stevens, Jan Duursema, Steve Rude, Scott McCloud, Art Adams, Eric Shanower, Dan Brereton, Jeff Smith, Gene Ha, Alexander Maleev, David Petersen, Cathy Malkasian, Eleanor Davis, and Tyler Crook so they have a pretty good eye for this.