Foster-Dimino and Goldstein dominate as women sweep the Ignatz Awards

It was a clean sweep for female creators in the 2015 Ignatz Awards. Sophia Foster-Dimino won three of the bricks for her comic Sex Fantasy while Sophie Goldstein won two for her SF graphic novel The Oven. The complete list of winners is below, marked with a ***

Outstanding Artist

• ***Emily Carroll – Through The Woods
• Ed Luce – Wuvable Oaf
• Roman Muradov – (In a Sense) Lost and Found
• Jillian Tamaki – SuperMutant Magic Academy
• Noah Van Sciver – Saint Cole

Outstanding Anthology or Collection

• Drawn and Quarterly, 25 Years of Contemporary Cartooning, Comics, and Graphic Novels, edited by Tom Devlin, Chris Oliveros, Peggy Burns, Tracy Hurren, and Julia Pohl-Miranda
• An Entity Observes All Things by Box Brown
• How To Be Happy by Eleanor Davis
• Pope Hats #4 by Ethan Rilly
• SuperMutant Magic Academy by Jillian Tamaki

Outstanding Graphic Novel

• Beauty by Kerascoët and Hubert
• *** The Oven by Sophie Goldstein
• Rav by Mickey Zacchilli
• Saint Cole by Noah Van Sciver
• Wendy by Walter Scott

Outstanding Story

• Doctors by Dash Shaw
• “Me As a Baby” from Lose #6 by Michael DeForge
• “Nature Lessons” from The Late Child and Other Animals by Marguerite Van Cook and James Romberger
• *** “Sex Coven” from Frontier #7 by Jillian Tamaki
• Weeping Flower, Grows in Darkness by Kris Mukai

Promising New Talent

• M. Dean – K.M. & R.P. & MCMLXXI (1971)
• *** Sophia Foster-Dimino – Sphincter; Sex Fantasy
• Dakota McFadzean – Don’t Get Eaten by Anything
• Jane Mai – Soft
• Gina Wynbrandt – Big Pussy

Outstanding Series

• Dumb by Georgia Webber
• Frontier edited by Ryan Sands
• March by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell
• Pope Hats by Ethan Rilly
• *** Sex Fantasy by Sophia Foster-Dimino

Outstanding Comic

• Borb by Jason Little
• The Nature of Nature by Disa Wallander
• *** The Oven by Sophie Goldstein
• Pope Hats #4 by Ethan Rilly
• Weeping Flower, Grows in Darkness by Kris Mukai

Outstanding Minicomic

• Devil’s Slice of Life by Patrick Crotty
• Epoxy 5 by John Pham
• King Cat #75 by John Porcellino
• *** Sex Fantasy #4 by Sophia Foster-Dimino
• Whalen: A Reckoning by Audry

Outstanding Online Comic

• *** The Bloody Footprint by Lilli Carre
• Carriers by Lauren Weinstein
• Mom Body by Rebecca Roher
• O Human Star by Blue Delliquanti
• Witchy by Ariel Ries

Rounding out the winners were such acclaimed creators Eleanor Davis, Jillian Tamaki, Emily Carroll and LIlli Carré. It was a pretty definitive win for the women of indie comics–in fact it would be hard to name a recently arrived male cartoonist who has had the contemporary impact of these creators.

The Ignatz ceremony, held during the Small Press Expo, was MC’ed by C. Spike Trotman.  SP Executive Director Warren Bernard announced that the 2016 show would be held on September 17-18 and teh first two guests are Jeffrey Brown and Daniel Clowes.

Davis delivered a particularly moving speech which brought the room to a hush and then to thunderous applause. All of the winners expressed gratefulness for the spirit of community that SPX is known for.