Small Press Expo announced the 2019 Ignatz Awards nominees on Wednesday, celebrating some of the finest talent in indie and small press comics.
First Second and Drawn & Quarterly each nabbed five nominations, with Lion Forge, Top Shelf Productions, and The Nib coming up right behind. Rosemary Valero-O’Connell and Mariko Tamaki grabbed three nominations total for Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me, and Ezra Claytan Daniels received two nominations for Upgrade Soul.
The 2019 Ignatz Awards will be presented at a gala ceremony on Saturday, September 14, 2019 at 9:30 p.m. The event is sponsored by Kickstarter and the logo was created by 2018 Promising New Talent winner Iasmin Omar Ata.
Without further ado, here are the 2019 Ignatz Awards nominees.
Outstanding Artist
- Rosemary Valero-O’Connell – Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me (First Second)
- Koren Shadmi – Highwayman (Top Shelf Productions)
- Lucy Knisley – Kid Gloves (First Second)
- Sloane Leong – Prism Stalker (Image Comics)
- Ezra Claytan Daniels – Upgrade Soul (Lion Forge)
Outstanding Collection
- Love Letters to Jane’s World – Paige Braddock (Lion Forge)
- Girl Town – Carolyn Nowak (Top Shelf Productions)
- Dirty Plotte – Julie Doucet (Drawn & Quarterly)
- Leaving Richard’s Valley – Michael DeForge (Drawn & Quarterly)
- This Woman’s Work – Julie Delporte (Drawn & Quarterly)
Outstanding Anthology
- Electrum – Edited by Der-shing Helmer (Alloy)
- Wayward Sisters – Edited by Allison O’Toole (TO Comix Press)
- Family – The Nib Magazine – Edited by Matt Bors, Matt Lubchanksy and Eleri Harris (The Nib)
- Death – The Nib Magazine – Edited by Matt Bors, Matt Lubchanksy and Eleri Harris (The Nib)
- We’re Still Here: An All-Trans Comics Anthology – Edited by Tara Avery and Jeanne Thornton (Stacked Deck Press)
Outstanding Graphic Novel
- Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me – Mariko Tamaki & Rosemary Valero-O’Connell (First Second)
- Upgrade Soul – Ezra Clayton Daniels (Lion Forge)
- Woman World – Aminder Dhaliwal (Drawn & Quarterly)
- Highwayman – Koren Shadmi (Top Shelf Productions)
- Gender Queer – Maia Kobabe (Lion Forge)
Outstanding Series
- The Nib Magazine – Matt Bors (The Nib)
- Daygloayhole Quarterly – Ben Passmore (Silver Sprocket Press)
- Heavenly Blues – Ben Kahn & Bruno Hidalgo (Scout Comics)
- Frontier – Youth in Decline
- Endgames – Ru Xu (NewsPrints)
Outstanding Minicomic
- Trans Girls Hit the Town – Emma Jayne (Diskette Press)
- Gonzalo – Jed McGowan (Shortbox)
- Silver Wire – Kriota Willberg (Birdcage Bottom Books)
- Cherry – Inés Estrada (Kilgore Books & Comics)
- YLLW YLLW YLLW – Mar Julia (Diskette Press)
Outstanding Comic
- Lorna – Benji Nate (Self-Published)
- Infinite Wheat Paste #7 – Pidge (Pidge Comics)
- The Saga of Metalbeard – Joshua Paddon & Matthew Hoddy (Self-Published)
- Egg Cream – Liz Suburbia (Silver Sprocket & Czap Books)
- Check Please! – Ngozi Ukazu (First Second)
Outstanding Online Comic
- Isle of Elsi – Alec Longstreth
- That’s Not My Name! – Hannako Lambert
- What Doctors Know About CPR – Nathan Gray
- About Face – Nate Powell
- Full Court Crush – Hannah Blumenreich
Promising New Talent
- Haleigh Buck
- Ebony Flowers
- Emma Jayne
- Mar Julia
- Kelsey Wroten
Outstanding Story
- Sacred Heart Vol 2 Part 1: Livin’ in the Future – Liz Suburbia (from Egg Cream #1) (Czap Books)
- Sincerely, Harriet – Sarah Winifred Searle (Graphic Universe)
- Woman World – Aminder Dhaliwal (Drawn & Quarterly)
- The Dead Eye and the Deep Blue Sea – Vannak Anan Prum (Seven Stories Press)
- Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me – Mariko Tamaki & Rosemary Valero-O’Connell (First Second)
Want to read some of this year’s Ignatz nominees? We’ve covered several of the titles and creators listed in columns like Indie View and Queerness In Comics, as well as our A Year of Free Comics feature. Check ’em out and stay tuned for the full list of winners.
SPX takes place at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center in Bethesda, MD Sept. 14-15, 2019.