Category Archives: Gene Day Award

The 2013 Joe Shuster Award Nominating Teams

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Awards Nomination - StockFor Artist, Cartoonist, Cover Artist, Writer: John Babos, Erik Bouchard, Laurent Boutin, Shawn Bryan, Jeff Brown, Amy Chop, Tyler Jirik, Mike Jozic, David Kelly, Patrick Marleau, Conor McCreery, Alice Quinn, Rachel Richey, Andrew Wheeler, Leonard Wong, Sarrah Young with additional input from Bill Code, Kelly Dowd and Andrew Uys.

For Webcomics: Tyrone Biljan, Allison Covey, and Andrew Walsh.

For Hall of Fame: Kevin A. Boyd, Walter Durajlija, Joseph Kilmartin, Ivan Kocmarek, Robert MacMillan, Hope Nicholson, Robert Pincombe, and Rachel Richey.

For the Gene Day Award: Tyrone Biljan, Kevin A. Boyd, Peter DeCourcy, Rachel Richey, and Debra Jane Shelly.

For the Harry Kremer Award: Anthony Falcone and Scott VanderPloeg. With additional input from Robert Haines (research) and the CCBCAA secret shopper team.

For the Dragon Award: Jennifer Haines (coordinator) and a team of her fellow educators: Beth Alexander (BEd – elementary) and Diana Pai (BEd).

The 2013 Joe Shuster Award Nominees / Les nominés pour le prix Joe Shuster 2013

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Full list of 2013 Nominees / La liste complète des nominés 2013

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2013 marks the 75th year since the debut of Superman by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in the pages of Action Comics #1. Tom Grummett prepared this portrait of Joe in 2005 that has adorned the Joe Shuster Award plaques ever since. Fun facts: Joe was left handed, the building in the background is the original Toronto Star building that inspired the Daily Star / Daily Planet building in Superman’s Metropolis. On the drawing table behind Joe is an earlier version of ‘The Superman’.

Canada has a rich tradition of supporting our national arts communities with awards that recognize the achievements of our citizens like the Genie Awards for film and television and the Juno Awards for music – the JOE SHUSTER AWARD is Canada’s national award that honours and raises the awareness of Canadians that create, self-publish and sell all kinds of comics, graphic novels and webcomics.

Shuster1975

Joe Shuster in 1975.

They are named after pioneering Canadian-born artist Joe Shuster (1914-1992), whose clear, dynamic style and inventive visual flourishes set the standard for graphic storytelling during the infancy of the North American comic book industry. It was Superman, a co-creation of Shuster and his friend Jerry Siegel, that electrified the industry 75 years ago in 1938 and, almost overnight, transformed comic books into an enormous pop-cultural phenomenon.

Nominees were selected this spring from lists of creators including all eligible original works published and distributed during the year 2012. Qualifying creators must be Canadian citizens living at home or abroad, as well as permanent residents in Canada. The award winners will be chosen by a jury vote to ensure every nominee is given adequate consideration.

The awards will be presented at a gala ceremony in Toronto, open to the public, on the evening of Saturday, August 25, 2013. Time and exact location will be announced at a later date.

And the nominees are:

Continue reading →

JSA update and more on Lost Heroes documentary

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So everything is well under way now here at JSA central. We’re once again aiming for a Free Comic Book Day (May 4th) deadline for our nominee announcements.

I must say that it’s been an enthusiastic year for Canadian comics so far, as there’s been a lot going on recently – especially for things related to Canadian comics history. The shooting for the upcoming documentary LOST HEROES has wrapped and the crew is currently in post-production mode, we eagerly await the final product. We’ve been lucky enough to be able to watch some of the interviews filmed at the Comic Book Lounge, and I think people are in for a real treat when the film finally airs on Super Channel later this year. Here’s the official blurb followed by the promotional poster for the film:

Lost Heroes is a feature documentary set to air on Super Channel in 2013. We explore the history of the great Canadian superheroes, from Johnny Canuck to Captain Canuck. Currently in post-production.

Lost Heroes explores the past of the Canadian superhero, from the golden age when millions of children read the tales of Inuit goddess Nelvana of the Northern Lights, to the thrilling days when Canadian superheroes returned to the newstands with Captain Canuck and Cerebus. Lost Heroes celebrates the unique Canadian talent behind these characters and asks why can’t Canada keep their heroes?

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Mister Monster by Fred Kelly, Captain Canuck by George Freeman, Fleur-de-Lys by Ken Steacy, with Adrian Dingle’s Nelvana and other characters in the background.

In what I’ve seen of it, this is a top-notch, professional production and I think it will be a great chance to expose a lot of people to Canada’s comics past, as well as it’s present and future.

With the completion of the eligible English and French list I’ve spent some time perusing the lists to play my guessing game of who I think the nominating committees will be selecting for the 2013 Joe Shuster Awards, and I think that this year’s list is strong, but seems to working from a smaller pool than in previous years. That certainly means that a lot of projects by people absent this year are on the horizon, but I’m eager to see who the nomcoms select.

Currently we have 19 individuals participating in the Nominating Committee for  Artist, Cartoonist, Cover Artist and Writer. They come from across the country, but as per protocol we won’t be publishing their names until after they have finished their selections in case anyone drops out before the end.

Our Hall of Fame selection committee has expanded quite considerably this year, to make up for last year’s year off. Of the seven members, only three have participated in previous HOF nomcoms. Maybe I can convince them finally to rename the HOF “Hinterland’s Who’s Who”.

Gene Day Award update

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Gene Day in his studio

Gene Day in his studio

In case you were wondering, we are now accepting physical copies of self-published comics and original graphic novels for consideration for the GENE DAY AWARD.

Copies can be sent to the Comic Book Lounge in Toronto where they will be gathered for review by the Gene Day Award Coordinator and the Jury for this award.

The comic had to have been released (but not distributed through Diamond or any official channels) between 1/1/2012 and 12/31/2012.

Deadline to submit is May 16, 2013.

Please take a look at the information page for details: The Gene Day Award for Self-Publishers

Welcome to 2013!

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A new year is well underway and we are getting back to business here at JSA central!

Unfortunately, I was not able to run a wrap survey for 2012 as I normally do, work on the store and various events (such as the 24 Hour Comic Challenge we ran in-store this past Saturday at the Comic Book Lounge) have been keeping me pretty busy.

Currently being assembled for a late January release will be the LIST OF ELIGIBLE CREATORS AND 2012 PUBLICATIONS list, and if you want to be proactive and make sure your comics projects are recognized you can email me at kevin@joeshusterawards.com and I’ll update the list.

Current plans are for the nomination process to begin in earnest on February 1, so if you are interested in participating in nominating the 2012 award categories, you can email me at the same address listed in this article.

A later start for the process does seem indicative of an awards ceremony for later in 2013, and that is once again the case — as we have a weekend in mind, an event and a city in which to hold the ceremony, just not an official venue yet. Current plans are for the ceremony to take place in late summer at a venue that will be announced in March when the nominations are announced.

December Update

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As the year begins winding down, we begin the finalizing of the list of eligible publications and creators for the 2013 nominating committee to make their selections from.

In early November we had some meetings to discuss the direction the awards will take in 2013, the positions needing to be filled, and a number of new folks have joined the CCBCAA team.

We’ll have some news on the various fronts in early 2013 as well as the city, date and convention that we plan to coincide the award presentations with.

As we near the holidays, now is a great time to consider buying comics or graphic novels for your friends and loved ones as Christmas gifts. We hope you’ll consider the many great works by Canadian creators… some recent arrivals that would make great gifts: The Flash New 52 Vol. 1 hardcover (by Francis Manapul), Parker – The Hunter softcover edition (by Darwyn Cooke), and the X-O Manowar Vol. 1 trade paperback (art by Cary Nord). Recently, All New X-Men 1-3 (4 is out next week) has been a bona fide smash hit (art by Stuart Immonen).

Congratulations also to Jim Zubkavich and Ray Fawkes for their recently announced gigs writing for DC Comics (Birds of Prey and Batgirl respectively), and Jeff Lemire will be moving over to write Green Arrow in February, and as Sweet Tooth concludes in early January comes word that he will have a new Vertigo series to be released sometime in 2013. J. Bone will be drawing a new Rocketeer mini-series in February, and Kill Shakespeare will be returning that month as well, as the original creative team reunites to continue the tale.

Indie Skip Week – December 26-January 1

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Support and Promote Indie Skip Week #indieskipweek

On Wednesday, December 26th, Diamond Comics will be working with a a few of their Premiere Publishers to bring just a handful of comics to market.  Comic Shops will be receiving only a little over a dozen titles (including Amazing Spider-Man 700) instead of the normal 60+ books.

Please note that in Canada, most stores will be closed on the 26th for Boxing Day, so look for new books on Thursday, December 27th.

Instead of encouraging customers to skip shopping in the store for an entire week – which I’m not sure they will do if new comics are coming out combined with end of the year sales and promotions — but many comic shop owners across North America will be using this as an opportunity to fill the gap and promote Self-Published Comics, Creator Owned Comics and Micro-Publisher Comics at the forefront of their comic shops.  For an entire week all walk-in traffic can hopefully be introduced to a wonderful side of comics that many customers don’t get to see with the emphasis on mainstream publishers.

Hopefully customers will then discover new talents and new titles!  This is a great way to support the smallest and most innovative creators working in the comics industry.

There are a lot of great comics out there that qualify from publishers such as: Top Shelf, Archaia Press, Image Comics, Koyama Press, Drawn & Quarterly, Conundrum Press, Oni Press, Retrofit Comics, Secret Acres, Oily Comics and more!

Help turn this into an opportunity to support independent creators and self-publishers.

Indie Skip Week #indieskipweek

2012 Joe Shuster Awards – Credits / Les Prix Joe Shuster 2012 – Crédits

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SECTION A

Outstanding Comic Book Cover Artist / Dessinateur de couverture de bande dessinée exceptionnel
Outstanding Comic Book Writer / Scénariste de bande dessinée exceptionnel
Outstanding Comic Book Artist / Dessinateur de bande dessinée exceptionnel
Outstanding Comic Book Cartoonist / Auteur de bande dessinée exceptionnel

Nominating Committee / Comité des Candidatures :
Laurent Boutin (Montreal, QC)
Eric Bouchard (Montreal, QC)
Jeff Brown (Toronto, ON)
Lloyd Chesney (Victoria, BC)
Amy Chop (Guelph, ON)
Jamie Coville (Kingston, ON)
Gareth Gaudin (Victoria, BC)
Tyler Jirik (Guelph, ON)
Mike Jozik (Saskatoon, SK)
David Kelly (Montreal, QC)
Jonathan Kuehlein (Toronto, ON)
Andrew Uys (Toronto, ON
Leonard Wong (Vancouver, BC)
Sarrah Young (Toronto, ON)

- Outstanding Web Comics Creator / Créateur de bande dessinée web exceptionnel

Nominating Committee / Comité des Candidatures :
Tyrone Biljan
Kevin Boyd
Allison Covey
Robert Haines
Andrew Walsh

Art Jury (Artist / Cover Artist / Webcomics)

- Cliff Caporale (Montreal, QC)
– Amy Chop (Guelph, ON)
– Calum Johnston (Halifax, NS)
– Hope Nicholson (Toronto, ON)
– Ethan Peacock (Vancouver, BC)

Story Jury (Cartoonist / Writer)

- Cliff Caporale (Montreal, QC)
– Robin Fisher (Montreal, QC)
– Robin McConnell (Vancouver, BC)
– Rachel Richey (Ottawa, ON)
– Salgood Sam (Montreal, QC)

Coordiinator/Coordinateur - Kevin Boyd, Executive Director

SECTION B

The Gene Day Award for Self-Publishers / Le Prix Gene Day de l’auto-édition

Nominating Committee / Comité des Candidatures::
Robert Haines, with input from Kevin Boyd

Day Jury:
– Calum Johnston
– Jesse Jacobs
– Diana Schutz

The Harry Kremer Award for Outstanding Comic Book Retailer / Le Prix Harry Kremer du libraire de bandes dessinées exceptionnel

Nominating Committee / Comité des Candidatures :
Robert Haines

Kremer Jury:
Tyrone Biljan
Kevin Boyd
Allison Covey
Peter DeCourcy
Andrew Walsh

Coordinator/Coordinateur - Robert Haines, Associate Director

SECTION C

The Dragon Award – Comics for Kids / Le Prix Dragon – Bande dessinée jeunesse

Nominating Committee / Comité des Candidatures :
– Jennifer Stewart (BEd)
– Beth Alexander (BEd – elementary)
– Diana Pai (BEd)

Comics for Kids Jury:
– Douglas Davey (Halton Hills librarian)
– Graham Purcell (BEd – elementary)
– Renee Jackson (BEd, MFA)
– Kate McEvenue (BEd)
– Scott Robins (Toronto librarian)

Coordinator/Coordinateur – Jennifer Haines

ADDITIONAL THANKS TO:

Webcomics Coordinator – Andrew Walsh

Publisher Liason - Allison Covey

Graphics and Audio Visual Presentation – Tyrone Biljan

Awards Ceremony Hosts: Jason Rockman, Catherine Smith-Desbiens

Host Convention: Montreal Comic Con – contacts: Oscar Yazedjian, Elizabeth Jutras, Cliff Caporale

Awards manufactured by ACE Awards, Toronto, ON

Hall of Fame Committee – Joe Kilmartin, Robert Pincombe

The Canadian Comic Book Creator Awards Association would also like to thank the following publishers for their assistance in providing book for our juries to review:
Éditions Alto
Éditions Pow Pow
Éditions Soleil
IDW
Image Comics
Kids Can Press
La Pasteque
Les 400 Coups
Oni Press
Presses Aventure
Puffin Books
Katie and Steven Shanahan.

Additional books published by Archaia Press, Éditions Delcourt, Drawn & Quarterly, DC Comics, some additional IDW  and Marvel Comics were provided by:
The Comic Book Lounge + Gallery, (Toronto, ON)

Finally, the CCBCAA would like to thank and acknowledge the financial contributions of our private donours, and the support of the Canadian comics community across our great nation.

THE CCBCAA 2011-2012:
Kevin Boyd, Director
Robert Haines, Associate Director
Tyrone Biljan
Allison Covey
Peter DeCourcy
Andrew Walsh

The 2012 Joe Shuster Award winners

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Montreal, QC – In a ceremony presided by JASON ROCKMAN and CATHERINE SMITH-DESBIENS at the MONTREAL COMIC-CON, the 8th Annual Joe Shuster Awards for Canadian Comic Book Creators and Retailers were presented to an enthusiastic crowd of nominees, friends and fans of the medium. Continue reading →

Back to school and work JSA update for Sept. 4

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Welcome back! Hope your summer was as eventful as ours was.

We’re now a mere 11 days away from the presentation of the 8th annual Joe Shuster Awards and we’ll be posting some updates as we near the event.

JURY DECISIONS

The Art Jury (Artist, Cover Artist and Webcomics) have finished their selections, as have the ones selecting the Dragon Prize and the Gene Day Award for Self-Publishing. That leaves the Retailer Jury and the Story Jury (Cartoonist and Writer), and we hope to have those wrapped up later today or early tomorrow.

HARRY KREMER RETAILER AWARD FINALISTS

The 10 stores have been narrowed down to a final five – watch for a release here shortly.

POSTER

Our promotional image is ready, just waiting for some final approvals.

HALL OF FAME

Our Hall of Fame committee has opted to pass on inducting a new member in 2012.

FINAL AWARDS LIST FOR 2012 (8 awards to be given out in Montreal on September 15):

- Artist / Dessinateur
- Cartoonist / Créateur
- Writer / Écrivain
- Cover Artist / Dessinateur Couvertures
- Webcomics Creator / Créateur de Bandes Dessinées Web
- The Dragon Award (Comics for Kids) / Prix Dragon (Bandes Dessinées Jeunesse)
- Gene Day Award (Self-Publishers) / Prix Gene Day (Auto-éditeurs)
- Harry Kremer Award (Retailers) / Prix Harry Kremer (Détaillants)

 

Late July Update

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Things may have slowed down considerably here on the site lately, as running a store as well as the awards, parts of the country’s largest comic-con and a day job have really taken a toll on my time. I had never expected to own a comic shop, but The Comic Book Lounge + Gallery has been growing steadily since we opened it back in February. Huge  props go to manager Joe Kilmartin (formerly of the JSA Executive and former manager of Dragon Lady Comics), for handling the day to day aspects of running the Lounge.

If anyone has any interest in posting news items and articles here on the website, please contact me at kevin@joeshusterawards.com and we’ll get you hooked up.

It has been a very busy summer for everyone, with plenty of great news coming out of the San Diego con. A new series from Ed Brisson, Michael Walsh and Jordie Belaire called Comeback for Image. Also at Image, J. Bone will be doing a series called The Saviours with James Robinson, Darwyn Cooke will be doing at least two more Parker novels with The Hustle set for release in late 2013. Dale Keown will be joining Jeph Loeb for something called A Plus X.

Of course, the big news were the Eisner Awards, which have been summarized elsewhere on this site. Congratulations to the class of 2012! Darwyn and Ramon face off again in September in the Cartoonist category here for the Joe Shuster Awards.

The juries for 2012 have been selected and are beginning their review process. Thanks to the publishers who assisted us providing copies of nominated books for the jury to review. In this regard The Comic Book Lounge has become an official sponsor of the Joe Shuster Awards, providing some of the books not obtainable from the publisher directly.

It has been a big summer for books as well. Richard Stark’s Parker: The Score by Darwyn Cooke was released last week to great acclaim, the colourized Scott Pilgrim Volume 1 by Bryan Lee O’Malley and Nathan Fairbairn is set to arrive next week, as is Jeff Lemire’s The Underwater Welder.

The 2012 Gene Day Self-Publisher Award Nominees / Les Nominés pour le 2012 Gene Day Prix des auto-éditeur

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Gene Day

The Gene Day Award for Self-Publishing honours Canadian comic book creators who self-published their work during the previous calendar year. The award includes a bursary of $500 which is provided by The Dragon, as award sponsor.

Le Prix de Gene Day pour l’auto-édition honneurs canadiens créateurs de bandes dessinées qui auto-publiés de leur travail pendant l’année civile précédente. Le prix comprend une bourse de 500 $, ce qui est prévu par The Dragon, comme commanditaire du prix.

The 2012 Nominees are: / Les 2012 candidats sont les suivants:

21 Journeys – Cloudscape Comics Collective

Fifteen Months – Colleen MacIsaac Ghost Rabbit - Dakota McFadzean

Drupe – Jérémy Bourgeois Raymond Silly Kingdom: Alengrimrickshaw’s 211th Birthday  – Katie Shanahan, Steven Shanahan

About Gene Day

Gene Day (1951-1982) began his career in the Canadian alternative comix scene. In the seventies he began his own publishing imprint, Shadow Press / House of Shadows and put out over twenty issues of Dark Fantasy, a horror/fantasy/sci-fi digest that featured the early writings of Joe Lansdale, Charles De Lint, John Bell and Charles R. Saunders, amongst others; a short-lived comic publication, Out of the Depths and various other one-shots, portfolios, and prints. Day drew for the Skywald magazines Psycho and Nightmare from 1974, as well as the Canadian comic anthology, ORB, and Mike Friedrich’s independent comics company Star Reach, contributing to the Star Reach anthology, Image and Quack. Day did illustrations for fantasy role-playing games and had a collection of his comic stories, ‘Future Day’, published by Flying Buttress Press as a hardcover graphic novel in 1979.

He was a longtime inker on Marvel’s ‘Master of Kung Fu’ title by Mike Zeck, starting in 1976 and later took over as full penciler on the series. He also inked on the licensed ‘Star Wars’ series, pencilled by Carmine Infantino, as well as ‘The Mighty Thor’ and ‘Marvel Two-in-One’ featuring ‘The Thing’. From 1985 to 1986, Renegade Press published four issues of Gene Day’s ‘Black Zeppelin’, an anthology series primarily featuring stories and painted covers Day completed before his death, as well new contributions by Sim, Bruce Conklin, Augustine Funnell, and Charles Vess. More of his work appeared posthumously in Caliber Comics’ anthology series Day Brothers Presents, which also featured the work of Day’s artist brothers, David and Dan Day.

Dave Sim credits Gene Day as his earliest and most influential mentor and the inspiration for his own self-publishing efforts. Gene Day was inducted into the Canadian Comic Book Creator Hall of Fame in 2007.

Visit the Dragon in Guelph, ON or online:
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In anticipation of the May 9th Nominations announcement: final wrap-up report

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In about 2 weeks time we’ll be announcing the final list of nominees for the 2012 awards.

2012 will see the presentation of 5 Joe Shuster Awards (down from 7 in 2011):
- Artist/Artist Team
– Cartoonist
– Cover Artist
– Webcomics Creator/Creative Team
– Writer/Writing Team
and 3 Specialty Awards
- The Dragon Award (Comics for Kids)
– The Gene Day Award (Small Press)
– The Harry Kremer Award (Comic Book Retailer)

Plus at least one Hall of Fame inductee, with a maximum of two inductees in 2012.

For transparency’s sake, here is a final recap of where we stand in the nominating process:

Four categories (artist, writer, cartoonist, cover artist) had two rounds of nominating. In the first, the 13 members presented short lists of creators who had English language comics published in 2011. From the overlapping selections, those who had three or more “votes” advanced to a second round and any creators with more than half of the votes advanced to ballot. In the second round  the members ranked their choices from 1-10, with the top selections filling in the empty slots. A concurrent nomcom of 4 selected the finalists from French language comics published in 2011.

Webcomics was handled by the Executive, following a similar selection process, as each member of the Executive reviewed the entire list of eligible webcomics and submitted short lists of their top five, from which the top seven overlapping selections advanced to the final ballot.

While we can only have 7 or 8 nominees per category, we personally feel that the lists below represent the “best of the best” of the Canadian comics scene from 2011.

ARTIST/ARTIST TEAM
7 were selected from the following:
Chris Bachalo (Wolverine and the X-Men)
Andy Belanger (Kill Shakespeare)
Pierre Bouchard (Motel Galactic)
Patrick Boutin-Gagne (La Bete du Lac: le Guardien)
Marian Churchland (Northlanders)
Marc Delafontaine (Les Nombrils T.5)
Dale Eaglesham (Alpha Flight)
Stuart Immonen (Fear Itself)
Fred Jourdain (Le Dragon Bleu/The Blue Dragon)
Jeff Lemire (Jonah Hex)
Yanick Paquette w/ Nathan Fairbairn (Swamp Thing)
Ramon Perez (Captain America and the First Thirteen)
Stephanie Poulin (Au Pays de la Memoire Blanche)
Cameron Stewart (Batman Incorporated Leviathan Strikes!)
Doug Wheatley (Star Wars Dark Times – Out of the Wilderness)

CARTOONIST
8 were selected (there was a tie) from the following:
Alex A. (L’Agent Jean T.1)
Claude Auchu (Une Annee en Quarantine)
Jimmy Beaulieu (Comedie Sentimentale Pornagraphique)
Chester Brown (Paying for It)
Darwyn Cooke (“The Seventh” from Parker: The Martini Edition)
Guy Delisle (Chroniques de Jerusalem)
Jean-Paul Eid (Le Fond de Trou)
Ray Fawkes (One Soul)
Jesse Jacobs (Even the Giants)
Francois Lapierre (Chroniques Sauvages)
Jeff Lemire (Sweet Tooth)
Francis Manapul (The Flash)
Pat McKeown (Hair Shirt)
Kagan McLeod (Infinite Kung Fu)
Joe Ollmann (Mid-Life)
Ramon Perez (Tale of Sand)
Michel Rabagliati (Paul au Parc)
Seth (Great Northern Brotherhood of Canadian Cartoonists)

COVER ARTIST
7 were selected from the following:
Kalman Andrasofszky
Kaare Andrews
Darwyn Cooke
Michael Del Mundo
Jean-Paul Eid
David Finch
Fred Jourdain
Francois Lapierre
Jeff Lemire
Francis Manapul
Yanick Paquette
Alexander Perkins
Doug Wheatley
Chrissie Zullo

WRITER
8 were selected (there was a tie) from the following:
Ian Boothby (Simpsons Comics)
Anthony Del Col/Connor McCreery (Kill Shakespeare)
Francis Desharnais (Motel Galactic)
Maryse Dubuc (Les Nombrils T.5)
Ray Fawkes (Skullkickers)
Kathryn Immonen (Wolverine and Jubilee)
Francois Lapierre (La Bete du Lac: Le Gardien)
Jeff Lemire (Animal Man)
John Rogers (Dungeons and Dragons)
Tristan Roulot (Le Testament de Capitaine Crown T.1)
J. Torres (Archie)
Kurtis Wiebe (Green Wake)
Jim Zubkavich (Skullkickers)

WEBCOMICS
7 were selected from the following:
JOEY COMEAU & EMILY HORNE – A SOFTER WORLD
KARL KERSCHL – ABOMINABLE CHARLES CHRISTOPHER
FAITH ERIN HICKS – ADVENTURES OF SUPERHERO GIRL
KEITH MCLEAN – ADVENTURESOME
MICHAEL DEFORGE – ANT COMICS
JASON BRADSHAW – BOREDOM PAYS
TY TEMPLETON – BUN TOONS
SHILIN HUANG – CARCIPHONA
DAN KIM – CLONE MANGA
CONNOR WILLUMSEN – COMICS
EMILY CARROLL- COMICS
TONY CLIFF – DELILAH DIRK & THE TURKISH LIEUTENANT
SALGOOD SAM – DREAM LIFE
DRAZEN KOZJAN – THE HAPPY UNDERTAKER
KATE BEATON – HARK! A VAGRANT
KATE CRAIG – HEART OF ICE
KATE LETH – KATE OR DIE
RAMON PEREZ – KUKUBURI
ELAINE WILL – LOOK STRAIGHT AHEAD
IRIS/ZVIANE – L’OSTIE DE CHAT
GISELE LAGACE & DAVID LUMSDEN – MENAGE A TROIS
ATTILA ADORJANY – METAPHYSICAL NEUROMA
ISABELLE MELANCON – NAMESAKE
VITALY ALEXIUS – ROMANTICALLY APOCALYPTIC
JAYD AIT-KACI – SFEER THEORY & THE FOX SISTER
DAVID BISHOP – STRANGER
WINSTON ROWNTREE – SUB NORMALITY

GENE DAY AWARD FOR SELF PUBLISHING
5 to be selected – winner also receives a $500 bursary
Finalists to be selected from comics submitted for consideration.Short list of considered works not available and the finalists are still undetermined as of today.

THE DRAGON AWARD for
COMICS FOR KIDS
8 were selected
This is a curated award, nominees were selected by teachers and librarians. Short list of considered works not available.

HARRY KREMER RETAILER AWARD
10 were selected – to be narrowed down to 5 in July
Retailers selected from lists of retailers available elsewhere on this site. JSA Executive coordinated visits to shops and evaluated them on things such as presentation, customer service, diversity of material.

HALL OF FAME
Committee selection pending – July 2012

Accepting submissions for the 2012 Gene Day Award for Self-Publishing

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The Gene Day Award for Self-Publishing honours Canadian comic book creators who self-published their work during the previous calendar year and is open to all Canadian citizens who self-publish and self-distribute their comics. The winner receives a Joe Shuster Award and a bursary of $500, to help fund your next comic project.

This award is open to comics self-published from January 1, 2011 to December 31st, 2011. The comics can be in any language. There is no limit on the number of titles submitted per person, if you created 3 comics in 2011 you may submit all 3 titles.

You must attest that that the books were self-published within the appropriate timeline by signing “self-published in 2011” and your signature. Be sure to write an email address your books, or some other way to reach you, so we can communicate with you in the event that your book is selected as a finalist.

Deadline to submit is March 1, 2012.

We ask that you submit 2 copies of your book, to allow copies to be distributed to the jury.

Submissions should be sent to:
Robert Haines
c/o The Dragon
The Old Quebec Street Mall
55 Wyndham Street North, Unit T19B
Guelph, Ontario, N1H 7T8

The Gene Day Award will be given out Saturday, September 15th, 2012, as part of the Montreal ComicCon.

More about the Gene Day Award.

This year the Gene Day Award is being sponsored by The Dragon, a retail comic book store based out of Guelph, ON and a strong supporter of self-published comics. The Dragon sponsors and operates the Kazoo Comics & Zine Expo, a small press fair in Guelph, and has been a finalist for the Will Eisner Spirit of Retailing Award for best comic shop in the world each of the past 2 years.

Summation:

  • award is open to non-professional comic creators who self-publish and do not use distribution such as Diamond
  • $500 prize plus a Joe Shuster Award winner statue
  • submit 2 copies of each title you wish to submit
  • work must be self-published from any time in 2011, January 1 to December 31st
  • each copy must have “self-published in 2011” and your signature in the book (unless this is printed in the book)
  • provide your email address in each copy of the book
  • mail to The Dragon in Guelph, ON
  • deadline to receive books is March 1, 2012
  • works will be looked at by a jury
  • Finalists announced along with all other award nominees
  • winner announced at Montreal ComicCon

If you have any questions about submitting, please ask! robert@joeshusterawards.com.

Happenings: EXPOZINE 10 November 26-27 – Montreal, QC

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expozine -EXPOZINE 2011, Montreal’s 10th Annual Small Press, Comic & Zine Fair !

EXPOZINE, Saturday, November 26 and Sunday, November 27, 2011, from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. at 5035 St-Dominique (Église Saint-Enfant Jésus, Laurier Métro). Free admission.

10th ANNIVERSARY OF EXPOZINE special issue of Four Minutes to Midnight ZINE LAUNCH, featuring round-table discussion with Expozine founders, Friday November 25 at the Drawn & Quarterly bookstore, 211 Bernard W., 7 – 10p.m., free admission.

EXPOZINE 10th ANNIVERSARY PARTY, Saturday November 26, 8 p.m. – 3 a.m., Casa del Popolo, 4873 St. Laurent, free admission. Music by J.A.S.S. (Jazz Amnesty Sound System) !!!

ALSO, programming during Expozine will include:

Saturday, November 26, 3 p.m. in the Expozine reading room:
Greasy Goose Salon, Expozine Edition, theme : PAPER
with: Simon Reader, Sarah Pupo, Nic Boshart and Emily Raine. A co-production between Expozine and the Greasy Goose Salon.

Sunday, November 27, 3 p.m. in the Expozine reading room:
Du Zine à l’Institution: Les Sérigraphes Montréalaises, with: Andrée-Anne Dupuis-Bourret, Jacinthe Loranger, Chloe Lum, Leyla Majeri, Dominique Pétrin.
Une co-production d’Expozine et La Centrale Galérie Powerhouse.

Expozine is one of the largest small press fairs in North America, bringing together over 270 exhibitors showcasing all kinds of publications– from books to zines to graphic novels – in both English and French. The event attracts thousands of visitors as well as exhibitors from across Canada, the United States and even Europe! It’s a unique showcase of the best publications that today’s small publishers and self-publishing authors and artists have to offer. Literally thousands of different publications can be found at Expozine, it’s THE “salon du livre” for readers interested in today’s underground and alternative publications!

Expozine 2011 on Facebook!

EXPOZINE Facebook group!

Expozine’s sister project, the DISTROBOTO art vending machine network!

For more information, contact expozine@archivemontreal.org.

Expozine is organized by Arcmtl (Archive Montreal), a non-profit organization that both promotes and preserves independently produced culture in Montreal. Expozine is made possible in part through the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Conseil des Arts de Montréal.

2012 Categories update:

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Earlier this month we asked for feedback on our categories as we determine which will make up the list for the 2012 Awards. Based on your feedback and our internal debates this is the list as it stands:

2012 Categories:

* Outstanding Artist/Artist Team (no change)

* Outstanding Cartoonist (no change)

* Outstanding Cover Artist (no change)

* Outstanding Webcomics Creator/Creative Team (no change)

Note: after a lot of discussion and debate, the team has decided that we will leave webcomics as a unique category again. A line of distinction is being drawn between digital comics (online versions of concurrent with print edition comics or online previews of digital comics) which will not be eligible for the category. This remains for comics content created exclusively for the internet (later print editions are irrelevant and are considered reprints in the print categories), and one of the nominating and judging criteria will be usage of the online delivery system itself in the storytelling and presentation of these comics.

* Outstanding Writer (no change)

* Comics for Kids Award – Beginner Reader Level
* Comics for Kids Award – Intermediate Reader Level

Note: if there are enough books of each criteria to justify having two categories, the Comics for Kids Award will be split into two categories — Beginner, for younger readers, and Intermediate, for older children. For example, Binky the Space Cat might be considered a Beginner book, while Three Thieves: Tower of Treasure might be considered an intermediate level entry. The hope is to provide more information and recommendations to parents, teachers, librarians and of, course, young readers!

* Gene Day Award for Self-Publishing (no change)

* Harry Kremer Award for Comic Book Retailing (no change)

* Canadian Comic Book Creator Hall of Fame (1-2) (no change)

There is one additional category currently being reviewed by our group and is at the proposal stage.

* TENTATIVE: Outstanding Original Graphic Novel by Canadian Creator / Creative Team

The members feel that it should be specifically for original (i.e. new) graphic novels published in French or English during the previous calendar year. Unfortunately new collections of serialized comics that are later collected that same year are not going to be eligible for this award (if it happens). We are still VERY concerned about this being duplication of efforts as many of these books may be recognized in the Cartoonist, Writer and Artist categories. As it stands, we would like to follow the lead of Comics for Kids and have a similar nomination and judging process for this potential new category.

Unfortunately we’ll be placing two categories “on hiatus” for 2012: Outstanding Publisher and Outstanding Colourist.

2012 Joe Shuster Awards – Saturday, September 15, 2012 in Montreal, QC

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I’m happy to report on behalf of the Canadian Comic Book Creator Awards Organization that we have agreed in principle with the organizers of the Montreal Comic Con and will be presenting the 8th Annual Joe Shuster Awards in conjunction with that event on the evening of Saturday, September 15, 2012.

In preparation for the ceremony, the CCBCAA will be working with members of the comics community to provide a fully bilingual awards ceremony, and we are all excited at the possibilities of providing better translation services on this site in order to help spread the word on comics and graphic novels by Canadians in both official languages.

The Montreal Comic Con will be held on the weekend of September 14-16, 2012. Due to unexpected demand, the MCC will be expanding to a full three days in 2012.

The MCC will also be changing facilities in 2012. It will no longer be held at Place Bonaventure but will be moving into the newer, larger and more colourful (!) convention facilities at the Palais des Congrès in Montreal, QC (pictured, right).

http://www.montrealcomiccon.com

This marks the second time that the Joe Shuster Awards will be presented outside of Toronto. Earlier this year we presented the 7th Annual Awards at the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo. Plans are for the JSAs to be presented in conjunction with a different comic book convention in Canada each year.

Happenings: CANZINE Toronto is today – Oct 23

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Canzine is today! There are radical readings, book pitch and zine competitions , panels, art installations, a food market and, oh yeah, like a million zines that you will not find anywhere else! If you’re anywhere in or around Toronto, swing by 918 Bathurst Centre (just above Bloor) from 1 to 7pm today and check the indie culture extravaganza!

FULL SCHEDULE

Deciding the 2012 Categories

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Here at the JSAs we’re fairly open to making changes to the existing award categories if a solid argument can be made for the alteration, or for adding new or retiring old categories. In recent years new awards have included The Comics for Kids Award, The Gene Day Award, as well as the Outstanding Cover Artist and Outstanding Colourist Awards. Retired Awards include Outstanding Achievement, Favourite French and Favourite English creator.

As we are beginning our work in compiling the eligible comics for the 2012 Awards, the discussion has begun on the subject of Award categories. I’ve nothing to announce at present, other than over the next couple of weeks we will be hopefully deciding which of our current categories will continue on into the next Awards season and which ones will be put “On Hiatus”.

2011 Categories included:

Outstanding Artist/Artist Team
Outstanding Cartoonist
Outstanding Colourist
Outstanding Cover Artist
Outstanding Publisher
Outstanding Webcomics Creator/Creative Team
Outstanding Writer
Comics for Kids Award for Material Aimed at Younger Readers
Gene Day Award for Self-Publishing
Harry Kremer Award for Comic Book Retailing
Canadian Comic Book Creator Hall of Fame

The Webcomics Award is something that is being discussed – should webcomics (one of the most popular and well regarded awards) be retired and incorporated into the other categories (which have been exclusively for printed, distributed works)? It’s something we are debating internally so we’d love to read your thoughts on the subject.

Generally we are looking to maintain the same number of awards in 2012 — 12.

If you have any suggestions, thoughts or recommendations, please reply to this post or email me at kevin@joeshusterawards.com