Calling all queer comics creators! Submissions for the 4th annual Prism Awards opened Wednesday, and will remain open until Wednesday, March 18, 2020. These awards will celebrate queer creators and works released in 2019 across five categories.

The Prism Awards are born of a partnership between the Cartoon Art Museum, Prism Comics, and the Queer Comics Expo. They recognize comics by queer creators and works that promote excellent LGBTQAI+ representation in both fiction and nonfiction comics.

These are the awards categories:

Best Short Form Comic
Best Webcomic
Best Comic from a Small to Midsize Press
Best Comic from a Mainstream Publisher
Best Comic Anthology

Works created or first published between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2019, either online or in print, are eligible for submission to the 2020 Prism Awards, so long as they have not been submitted before. Creators can submit up to three titles for consideration. Following the submission period, an impartial panel of judges featuring comics professionals will determine three nominees in each category.

Finalists will be announced at the Queer Comics Expo in May, and winners will be announced at San Diego Comic-Con in July. Please submit at this link and see the full Prism Awards press release below.

4TH ANNUAL QUEER COMICS “PRISM AWARDS” OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS

Online Submissions: February 19 – March 18, 2020
Finalists announced at Queer Comics Expo, May 16-17, 2020 in San Francisco
Winners announced at Comic-Con International/SDCC, July 23 – July 26, 2020, in San Diego SUBMISSION FORM: ​bit.ly/2020prismawards

San Francisco, CA:
Prism Comics and the Cartoon Art Museum are proud to announce the FOURTH ANNUAL PRISM AWARDS! These Awards will be presented to comic works by queer authors and works that promote the growing body of diverse, powerful, innovative, positive or challenging representations of LGBTQAI+ characters in fiction or nonfiction comics. The goal of the Awards is to recognize, promote and celebrate diversity and excellence in the field of queer comics. Online submissions are due by Wednesday, March 18, 2020 at 11:55pm.

Finalists in each category for the Prism Awards will be announced at the Queer Comics Expo May 16 – 17, 2020 at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco. Winners of the Awards will be announced at Comic-Con International in San Diego. All submissions will be reviewed by an impartial panel of judges made up of professionals in the field of comics, including authors, scholars, reviewers and librarians.

Eligible work must have been made or first published between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2019 and never before submitted to these Awards. Authors may submit up to three entries. One award will be given in each of the following categories:

Best Short Form Comic
A self-published or traditionally published comic of 32 pages or less, which was first printed or posted online during 2019. Entries to this category should be a complete story, NOT an excerpt from a longer work. Please submit the entire comic as a PDF.

Best Webcomic
A comic that is primarily/initially published online. Please submit no more than 32 pages or strips in PDF form that were first posted during 2019. Can be a complete or ongoing story.

Best Comic from a Small to Midsize Press
A comic published by a self-owned, small or midsize press during 2019. We are leaving it up to the entrant to self-select into this category, but reserve the right to move the work into the Mainstream Publisher category if we feel that is more appropriate. Please submit an excerpt of no more than 32 pages in PDF form.

Best Comic from a Mainstream Publisher
A comic published by a mainstream publisher during 2019. We are leaving it up to the entrant to self-select into this category, but reserve the right to move the work into the Small to Midsize press category if we feel that is more appropriate. Please submit an excerpt of no more than 32 pages in PDF form.

Best Comic Anthology
A collection of shorter works created by at least four different authors, either self-published or traditionally published during 2019. Submit the entire anthology in PDF form.

Submission Guidelines:
* All entrants must fill out the Prism Awards submission form and provide a link to the PDF copy of their submission.

  • No submissions, except Anthologies, may be more than 32 pages.

  • Each work submitted must be in a single PDF file.

  • All submissions should have the title of work and the main author’s name clearly visible on at least one page of the work.

  • This year we are only accepting comics in English, as we are unfortunately unable to judge non-English language comics at this time.

  • There is no entry fee for the Awards. No cash prize, travel, housing, or other in-kind services or items will be offered with these Awards. Winners and Honorees will be celebrated during the weekend of the Queer Comics Expo and promoted online and in social media.

The list of all previous Prism Award Winners and Honorees can be seen at Prismcomics.org/Prism-Awards

Contacts:
Nina Taylor Kester (Cartoon Art Museum, Program Coordinator) ​[email protected]
Rob McMonigal (Panel Patter, Site Editor) ​[email protected]

About Prism Comics, the Queer Press Grant and Prism Awards

Founded in 2003, Prism Comics is an all-volunteer non-profit organization that supports LGBTQ+ and LGBTQ+ friendly comics, comics professionals and readers. Prism fosters diversity in comics and popular geek culture and is one of the only comics organizations that provides an annual financial grant to emerging comics creators – The Prism Comics Queer Press Grant. Learn more at prismcomics.org.

About the Cartoon Art Museum

The Cartoon Art Museum’s mission is to ignite imaginations and foster the next generation of visual storytellers by celebrating the history of cartoon art, its role in society, and its universal appeal. The museum’s vision is to be the premier destination to experience cartoon art in all its many forms from around the world, and a leader in providing insight into the process of creating it. The Cartoon Art museum can be visited online at cartoonart.org and at its new location 781 Beach St, San Francisco, CA 94109.