Last evening, the Executive Committee met to discuss plans for the 2011 Joe Shuster Awards. A number of items were discussed as we prepare for the June 18, 2011 presentation date at the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo.

Calgary announced today the addition of that famous Canadian comic book writer William Shatner to the guest list and have started selling advance tickets online.

There are other things afoot at JSA central, but many items cannot be addressed at this stage because they are still in the planning/design phase. When they are cemented and finalized we’ll be making some formal announcements. That being said, I can reveal some:

Category Definition Changes / Additions / Subtractions

The “Outstanding Cover by a Canadian Artist” award has been changed to “Outstanding Canadian Cover Artist”. What this means is that the nominating committee will no longer be selecting a single cover per nominee but instead will be selecting cover artist nominees based on their cumulative work over the calendar year. This brings the award more in line philosophically  with the other categories.

We are discussing the possible addition of an “Executive Choice” book prize award. Each member of the executive would select an original 2010 published book by a Canadian creator/creators that they feel deserves special recognition, the final selection will be left in the hands of a jury.

We’ve agreed to cap the number of people inducted into the Hall of Fame to 2-3 per annum. In previous years the number has been four, although that number was exceeded in 2010 with six. We renewed our commitment to concentrating on just comic book creators at this time, as there are many eligible creator candidates. We continue to use a 25 year rule and for 2011, the magic year is 1986 – Hall of Fame inductees selected for 2011 must have had some work published in or before 1986 in order to be considered.