The bricks will soon by flying! Nominees for the 2026 Ignatz Awards have been announced, honroing the best in small press comics Winner’s will be announced 9:30PM on Saturday September 12 in the White Oak Room of the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel and Conference Center. Voting on the winners will take place online until September 11.
Nominees were chosen by this year’s judges:
- Maria Hoey
- Joel Christian Gill
- Nick Bertozzi
- Maggie McCready
- Vik Alexander
- Meg Lentz
- Michael Albrecht
- Sofia Lesage
And the nominees are…
OUTSTANDING ARTIST
- Colin Lidston, Move-In Day (Paper Rocket Minicomics)
- Ben Passmore, Black Arms To Hold You Up (Pantheon Books)
- Marshall Smith, Testament (Bulgilhan Press)
- Carol Tyler, The Ephemerata: Shaping the Exquisite Nature of Grief (Fantagraphics)
- Rob Woods, Barbecue Block Party (Self-Published)
OUTSTANDING ANTHOLOGY
- A Queer Prisoner’s Anthology Vol. 9: Beautiful Regrets ed. Casper Cendre, Oliver Mills, Brett Thomas Gonzalez (A.B.O. Comix)
- Goof #2 ed. Marc Jackson (Self-Published)
- LAAB: A Comics Anthology No. 3 ed. Ronald Wimberly (Beehive Books)
- Revenge #2 ed. Samandal (Beehive Books)
- So Buttons #15 ed. Jonathan Baylis (So Buttons Comix)
OUTSTANDING COLLECTION
- A Strong Woman and Other Stories by Valentine Gallardo (Fieldmouse Press)
- All the Cameras in My Room by Michael DeForge (Drawn & Quarterly)
- Box Garden Beetle by Akino Kondoh (Glacier Bay Books)
- The Past is a Grotesque Animal by Tommi Parrish (Fantagraphics)
- Wisps by Amanda Baeza (kuš!)
OUTSTANDING COMIC
- Antimatter #1 by Dean Haspiel (Self-Published)
- Fizzle #6 by Whit Taylor (Radiator Comics)
- Girls Gone Wild by Katie Lane (2dcloud)
- Utzy and Dusty by Josh Bayer (Domino Books)
- Zoo #5 by Anand Shenoy (Self-Published)
OUTSTANDING GRAPHIC NOVEL
- Black Arms to Hold You Up by Ben Passmore (Pantheon Books)
- Cannon by Lee Lai (Giramondo Publishing)
- Do Admit! The Mitford Sisters and Me by Mimi Pond (Drawn & Quarterly)
- More Weight: A Salem Story by Ben Wickey (Top Shelf Productions)
- The Weight by Melissa Mendes (Drawn & Quarterly)
OUTSTANDING MINICOMIC
- If She Was Beholden, Could She Ever Be the Beholder? by Erika Rier (Self-Published)
- Secret Black Woman: American Virtues by Ingrid Pierre (Self-Published)
- To Bleed Stone Dry by R. D. “Reyookah” Yoon (Self-Published)
- Two Snakes by Suerynn Lee (Alright Editions)
- Uncoiling: A Japanese-American Family History by Yoko O.K. (Self-Published)
OUTSTANDING ONLINE COMIC
- Anywhere but Barbunby Sinan Demirer
- Appleguy & Beefwoodby Cedar Van Tassel
- Blind Alleyby Adam de Souza
- I Thought I Heard Your Voice Just Thenby Hagai Palevsky and Justin LaGuff
- Islandby Lucy Haslam
OUTSTANDING SERIES
- Coin-Op no 10: Wet Cement by Peter and Maria Hoey (Coin-Op Books)
- Fizzle #6 by Whit Taylor (Radiator Comics)
- Hacienda by Dave Ortega (Self-Published)
- My Pockets are Juicy! by Lonnie Milsap (Self-Published)
- Wedding Juice and Other Melodramas by Sanika Phawde (Self-Published)
OUTSTANDING STORY
- Before We Wake by Sophia Glock (Little, Brown Ink)
- Drome by Jesse Lonergan (23rd Street)
- Mudhouse by Glynnis Fawkes (Paper Rocket Minicomics)
- Suicidals by Michael R. Barton (Self-Published)
- While We Wait by Sorina Vazelina (Self-Published)
PROMISING NEW TALENT:
- A Scientific Study Of Transsexuality by Oscar Woodiwiss (Fieldmouse Press)
- Creamthing In His Golden Year by Sam Hensley (Self-Published)
- Electric Cowboy by Ansel Kite (Silver Sprocket)
- The Witch’s Egg by Donya Todd (Avery Hill Publishing)
- Upwards Incursion by Padraig Campbell (Driftwood Press)
BALLOT & VOTING INFORMATION
- Voting for the 2026 Ignatz Awards will be by email ballot only, there will be no on-site voting.
- Ballots will be emailed everyone on SPX’s email lists at the same time as this announcement.
- Be sure to check you Spam folder for the ballot.
- If you wish to vote for the Ignatz Awards and are not on our email lists, sign up for a ballot and get added to our email lists at the SPX website.
- Please check your spam folder if you do not see your ballot.
- Voting ends on Friday September 11 at 8:00PM (EDT).
Other information about SPX 2026 and the Ignatz Awards, can be found at www.smallpressexpo.com.
