Winners and Finalists For the Third Annual Prism Awards

For Immediate Release

WINNERS AND FINALISTS FOR THE THIRD ANNUAL PRISM AWARDS

FOR EXCELLENCE IN LGBTQAI+ COMICS ANNOUNCED AT COMIC-CON INTERNATIONAL: SAN DIEGO

What: The Third Annual Prism Awards Presentation
Where: Comic-Con International: San Diego
San Diego Convention Center 111 W. Harbor Drive, San Diego, CA 92101
When: Awards Ceremony held on Thursday, July 18, 2019, 5:00 – 6:00 pm, Room 28AB

Press contacts:
Maia Kobabe – redgoldsparks@gmail.com
Nina Kester – education@cartoonart.org
Ted Abenheim- ted@prismcomics.org

Web link: https://www.prismcomics.org/prism-awards

The Winners and Finalists of the THIRD ANNUAL PRISM AWARDS were announced at a special panel at COMIC-CON INTERNATIONAL SAN DIEGO on Thursday July 18, 2019.

The Prism Awards are presented annually by PRISM COMICS, THE CARTOON ART MUSEUM and THE QUEER PRESS EXPO to recognize excellence in comics by queer creators. Prism Awards Chairperson and comics creator, Maia Kobabe (Gender Queer: A Memoir), moderated the Awards Presentation which included Prism Awards Founders Ted Abenheim (Prism Comics) and Nina L. Taylor Kester (Cartoon Art Museum, Queer Comics Expo), judges Heidi McDonald (The Comics Beat) and Rob McMonigal (Panel Patter) and comics creator Sina Grace (Iceman, Jughead’s Time Police, Ghosted in L.A.).

The Ceremony opened with a welcome by Maia Kobabe and Ted Abenheim discussing the origins of the Prism Awards which began when Prism Comics, The Cartoon Art Museum and The Queer Comics Expo (a San Francisco-based LGBTQIA+ comics convention) joined forces – and with the help of Chairperson Maia Kobabe – presented the first Prism Awards at The Queer Comics Expo in San Francisco in July of 2017.

Nina L. Taylor Kester (Cartoon Art Museum, Queer Comics Expo) described how she designed the Awards to be handcrafted in keeping with the creative spirit of LGBTQAI+ comics creators. The Awards are made from a glass rainbow crafted by Amy Karadbil set on an etched comic book created by Barry Figgins (Lyris Laser Studio) on a wooden base.

Maia Kobabe discussed the mission of the Awards to honor and promote the growing number of diverse, powerful, innovative, positive and challenging representations of LGBTQAI+ characters and stories in fiction or nonfiction. The Awards are split into categories based on size and medium and voted on by diverse panels of comics professionals, educators, librarians, journalists and writers. See below for categories and judges.

Maia Kobabe, Heidi McDonald, Rob McMonigal and Sina Grace announced the winners in each category to eager applause from the audience. Casper Cendre and Io Ascarium (Anthology Winners for ABO Comix Vol 2: A Comic Anthology by LGBTQ Prisoners) and Lilah Sturges (Mainstream Comic Winner along with Polterink, Jim Campbell and Boom! Studios for Lumberjanes: The Infernal Compass) accepted their 2019 Prism Awards in person with heartfelt speeches on the importance of the Awards to themselves and the community at large.

The panel closed with congratulations to all of the Finalists and Winners and encouragement for submissions for the 2020 Prism Awards which will open in early 2020 and be awarded in July 2020 at Comic-Con International: San Diego. Stay tuned at the Prism Comics website prismcomics.org and The Cartoon Art Museum website cartoonart.org for announcements in late 2019.

The winners and finalists for the Third Annual Prism Awards are:

SHORT FORM COMIC
WINNER: see me by e Jackson https://eshiel.itch.io/seeme
FINALISTS: You Don’t Have To Be Afraid of Me by Victor Martins https://helloboyfriend.itch.io
Fazenda De Sangue Azul by H. Pueyo and Dante Luiz https://danteluiz.com/tagged/comics

WEBCOMICS
WINNER: SuperButch by Barry Deutsch & Becky Hawkins http://superbutchcomic.com
FINALISTS: After the Fog by H-P Lehkonen https://hplehkonen.com/blog/after-the-fog
Null Point by Amara Sherm https://sparklermonthly.com/series/null-point

SMALL TO MIDSIZE PRESS
WINNER: Meal by Blue Delliquanti and Soleil Ho (Iron Circus) https://ironcircus.com/product/meal
FINALISTS: It Will Be Hard by Hien Pham(self published) https://wavingpeople.itch.io/it-will-be-hard
The Lie and How We Told It by Tommi Parrish (Fantagraphics) http://www.fantagraphics.com/thelie

MAINSTREAM PUBLISHER
WINNER: Lumberjanes: The Infernal Compass by Lilah Sturges, Polterink, and Jim Campbell (Boom! Studios) http://www.boom-studios.com/2018/10/31/lumberjanes-the-infernal-compass-on-sale-now
FINALISTS: Runaways #12 by Rainbow Rowell, Kris Anka, Matthew Wilson and Joe Carmagna (Marvel) https://www.marvel.com/comics/characters/1010747/runaways
Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles #6 by Mark Russell, Brandee Stilwell, Paul Mounts, Jeremy Lawson, Rose Campbell, Ben Caldwell, Mark Morales, Gus Vazquez, Sean Parsons and Mike Feehan (DC) https://www.dccomics.com/comics/exit-stage-left-the-snagglepuss-chronicles-2018/exit-stage-left-the-snagglepuss-chronicles-1

ANTHOLOGY
WINNER: ABO Comix Vol 2: A Comic Anthology by LGBTQ Prisoners edited by Casper Cendre http://www.abocomix.com/store/p2/abo1.html
FINALISTS: Group Chat edited by Carolynn Calabrese, Jenny Mott, Ashley Gallagher, Rachel Weiss https://pome-mag.com/pome-press
Being True: LGBTQ+ Comics From The Boston Comics Roundtable edited by Renie Jesanis, Kyri Lorenz, and Steph Rose Glass https://bostoncomics.com/bcr-at-fanexpo-boston-being-true-debuts
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2019 PRISM AWARDS JUDGES
Short Form Judges:
Mey Valdivia Rude (writer at them, Autostraddle)
Joamette Gil (Heartwood: Non-binary Tales of Sylvan Fantasy)
Sfé R. Monster (The Beyond Anthologies)

Webcomic Judges:
Matt Lubchansky (The Nib)
Ajuan Mance (Gender Studies)
Zora Gilbert (Dates: An Anthology of Queer Historical Fiction Stories, Books 1 and 2)
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Small to Midsize Press Comic Judges:
Juliette Capra (Crowded)
Noella Whitney (Dates: An Anthology of Queer Historical Fiction Stories, Book 2)
Heidi MacDonald (editor-in-chief of Comics Beat)

Mainstream Publisher Comic Judges:
Brian Andersen (Stripling Warrior)
AJ Real (writer, Advanced Death Saves)
Jack Baur (Librarian, Berkeley Public Library)

Anthology Judges:
e jackson (Flux)
Hazel Newlevant (Sugar Town)
Rob McMonigal (founder and head writer at Panel Patter)

For Winners, Finalists and Judges of the 2017 and 2018 Prism Awards visit https://www.prismcomics.org/prism-awards

Prism Comics – Founded in 2003, Prism Comics is an all-volunteer non-profit organization that supports LGBTQ+ and LGBTQ+ friendly comics, comics professionals and readers. Prism fosters diversity in comics and popular geek culture and is one of the only comics organizations that provides an annual financial grant to emerging comics creators – The Prism Comics Queer Press Grant. Learn more at prismcomics.org.

The Cartoon Art Museum – The Cartoon Art Museum’s mission is to ignite imaginations and foster the next generation of visual storytellers by celebrating the history of cartoon art, its role in society, and its universal appeal. The museum’s vision is to be the premier destination to experience cartoon art in all its many forms from around the world, and a leader in providing insight into the process of creating it. The Cartoon Art museum can be visited online at cartoonart.org and at its new location 781 Beach St, San Francisco, CA 94109.

The Queer Comics Expo (QCE) – The Queer Comics Expo was founded by Nina L. Taylor Kester and The Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco as an annual comics expo celebrating queer culture and promoting diverse representation in comics, animation, and other great ways to tell stories. Visit The Queer Comics Expo at

https://www.facebook.com/qcexpo/

and at cartoonart.org.