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