The 2009 Glyph Comics Awards: Submissions Being Accepted

Hi All,

I'm honored to have been asked to participate in the judging for the 2009 Glyph Comics Awards. The Glyph Comics Awards recognizes the best in comics made by, for, and about people of color.

Submissions for the 2009 awards are now being accepted; please read the press release below for details, and feel free to repost the info on your own site!

SUBMISSIONS FOR THE 2009 GLYPH COMICS AWARDS ARE NOW BEING ACCEPTED; JUDGES NAMED

This past May, in the closest race in the brief history of the Glyph Comics Awards (GCA), Sentences, the autobiography of underground rapper MF Grimm, a.k.a. Percy Carey, walked away with the grand prize of Story of the Year. This year promises just as competitive a race.

The GCA Committee has selected their panel of judges for the 2009 competition. They are:

· Valerie D'Orazio, president, Friends of Lulu

· Mathan Erhardt, writer, Comics Nexus

· Ed Mathews, columnist, Pop Image

· Tim O'Shea, writer/interviewer, TalkingWithTim.com

· Elayne Riggs, comics reviewer and commentator

Any comics publisher – small, large, corporate, independent, self-published – as well as online comic creators and cartoonists for newspapers and other periodicals, are invited to submit black-themed material released from January 1-December 31, 2008 for consideration for award recognition. The Committee defines black-themed work as any comic with any combination of the following: a black protagonist(s), or at least a black character(s) pivotal to the direction of the story; a setting(s) or a theme(s) that explores the black experience within the United States and/or abroad, past, present, and/or future; and/or a comic of any kind written and/or illustrated by a black creator(s).

Anyone wishing to submit their comic book or comic strip for consideration in the 2009 competition should e-mail GCA Committee Chair Rich Watson at rich.watson@gmail.com for further information. Hard copies are preferred, though submissions of e-files will also be accepted. Online comics creators and newspaper/periodical cartoonists with websites should send a direct URL link to their site or page. Daily cartoonists must have a minimum of one month's work archived and available for viewing; weekly cartoonists a minimum of two months. The deadline for submissions is January 31, 2009.

The 2009 Glyph Comics Awards ceremony will be held at the East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention (ECBACC) in May 2009.

About the Glyph Comics Awards:

The Glyph Comics Awards recognize the best in comics made by, for, and about people of color from the preceding calendar year. While it is not exclusive to black creators, it does strive to honor those who have made the greatest contributions to the comics medium in terms of both critical and commercial impact. By doing so, the goal is to encourage more diverse and high quality work across the board and to inspire new creators to add their voices to the field.

The awards are named for the blog Glyphs: The Language of the Black Comics Community (http://glyphs.popcultureshock.com), started in 2005 by comics journalist Rich Watson as a means to provide news and commentary of comics with black themes, as well as tangential topics in the fields of black science-fiction/fantasy and animation.

About ECBACC:

The East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention (www.ecbacc.com/wordpress) is an annual gathering of comic book creators and retailers who create and sell material that caters to black readers of all ages. In addition to selling their work, they also take part in panel discussions and self-publishing workshops for aspiring creators. The convention is held in Philadelphia each May. There is also a pre-show reception held at the African American Museum in Philadelphia. ECBACC is an outgrowth of the original Black Age of Comics Convention in Chicago, founded by Turtel Onli.

For more information about ECBACC, contact event coordinator Maurice Waters at maurice.waters@ecbacc.com.