The 2026 Eisner Awards are set to be held tonight in the Indigo Ballroom at the Hilton Bayfront, part of the currently-underway San Diego Comic-Con. The awards, given in 32 categories covering the breadth of the comics ecosystem, are considered by many to be the most prestigious in comics, and the announcement of the winners is a chance to celebrate the great work being done across the industry.
Yesterday, though, rumors began circulating that the list of 2026 winners had leaked early, allegedly posted online by the Eisner Awards organizers by mistake.
It began with a post in the r/comics Reddit community, where a user said the Eisners had shared, then quickly removed, a list of this year’s award winners. The post was picked up around the comics internet, with Comic Book Club‘s Alex Zalben among the first to report on it. (Note that both links above include the full leaked list, which is as of now unconfirmed, so both click at your own risk and take what you see with a grain of salt.)
Rumors about the list’s veracity spread throughout the day. In a statement to Popverse, SDCC chief communications and strategy officer David Glanzer declined to confirm if the list is accurate, but did say that an investigation will be conducted to determine what happened:
“Whether or not this is true, we will obviously investigate what happened, but more importantly, I would hope that no one would mar the spotlight for those deserving nominees and recipients. Tomorrow evening is for them, and it would be awful if this took away from the meaningful and celebratory experience they richly deserve.”
The Eisner Awards have not been without their controversies and technical issues over the years. From nominating books featuring controversial creators (2022) and AI-generated work (just this year), to a glitchy voting experience where users could reportedly see—and change—other voters’ selections (2020), the last few years in particular have presented unique challenges to what many call ‘the Oscars of comics.’
If the true list of award winners did leak early due to an error on the organizers’ part, that’s both embarrassing for the organization and massively disappointing for the nominees and winners. As Glanzer said in his statement, the Eisners ceremony is supposed to be a time to celebrate the phenomenal creative work that’s been released over the past year, and to have that marred by an easily-avoided mistake is upsetting, to say the least.
Then again, who among us hasn’t accidentally hit ‘Send’ when they meant to hit ‘Save’?
Stay tuned to The Beat for more news from SDCC ‘26.
