The winners of the 3rd Annual PRISM Awards were announced at San Diego Comic-Con International on Thursday. A joint venture of the Cartoon Art Museum, the Queer Comics Expo, and PRISM comics, the PRISM Awards offer professionals in the comics industry the opportunity to recognize the achievement of queer comics creators.

The panel that announced the winners included the founders Maia Kobabe (Gender Queer: A Memoir), Ted Abenheim (PRISM Comics), and Nina L. Taylor Kester (Cartoon Art Expo, Queer Comics Expo), as well two judges: Rob McMonigal, head writer and founder of Panel Patter, and Heidi MacDonald, The Beat’s own Editor-in-Chief. Also among the presenters was comics creator Sina Grace (Ghosted in LA, Iceman).

“The PRISM Awards are presented to comics works by queer authors and works that promote the growing body of diverse, powerful, innovative, positive, or challenging representations of LGBTIAQ+ in fiction or nonfiction comics,” Abenheim explained during the panel introduction. “The goal of the award is to promote excellence in this field, and that’s what we’re going to do tonight.”

There are five categories for PRISM Awards consideration, with three judges per category. Because the judges are only made privy to the submissions and consideration process for the category that they are judging, the PRISM awards allow creators to judge one category while submitting their own work for consideration in another.

2019 PRISM Awards Winners and Nominees

Best Short Form Comic
  • WINNER: see me by e Jackson
  • You Don’t Have to Be Afraid of Me by Victor Martins
  • Fazenda De Sangue Azul by H. Pueyo and Dante Luiz

Best Webcomic
  • WINNER: SuperButch by Barry Deutsch & Becky Hawkins
  • After the Fog by H-P Lehkonen
  • Null Point by Amara Sherm

Best Comic from a Small to Midsize Press
  • WINNER: Meal by Blue Delliquanti and Soleil Ho
  • The Lie and How We Told It by Tommy Parish
  • It Will Be Hard by Hien Pham

Best Comic from a Mainstream Publisher
  • WINNER: Lumberjanes: The Infernal Compass by Lilah Sturges, polterink, and Jim Campbell
  • Runaways #12 by Rainbow Rowell, Kris Anka, Matthew Wilson, and Joe Carmagna
  • Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles #6 by Mark Russel, Brandee Stilwell, Paul Mounts, Jeremy Lawson, Rose Campbell, Ben Caldwell, Mike Morales, Gus Vazquez, Sean Parsons, and Mike Feehand

Best Comic Anthology
  • WINNER: ABO Comix Vol. 2: A Comic Anthology by LGBTQ Prisoners edited by Casper Cendre
  • Being True: LGBTQ+ Comics From The Boston Comics Roundtable, edited by Renie Jesanis, Kyri Lorenz, and Steph Rose Glass
  • Group Chat, edited by Carolynn Calabrese, Jenny Mott, Ashley Gallagher, and Rachel Weiss

The nominees for the 4th Annual PRISM Awards will be announced at the Queer Comics Expo, which will take place May 16-17, 2020, at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco. Nominations are self-submitted and free, and queer comics creators are encouraged to submit their work for consideration in next year’s awards.

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