Ignatz Submission Guidelines

Submissions are not a requirement for eligibility. All submissions are copies provided by the artist or their publisher to ensure that our Jurors have seen and read the work in question.

To submit books, send six copies of each title/issue you wish to submit. One for each of our Jurors and one to be kept on file by The Expo's SPX for Ignatz Award promotional purposes only.

The publishing date of the books must be between July 1, 2001 and June 30, 2002. The deadline for submitting your books is June 30, 2002. Submissions postmarked by this date will be accepted. Submissions that do not meet the publishing window or are postmarked after the deadline will be returned.

Submissions should be sent to the following address:

EXPO 2001 Ignatz Awards

c/o Big Planet Comics, 426 Maple Ave East, Vienna, VA 22180 USA

THE IGNATZ GUIDELINES

I. The Ignatz Jury Selection

The previous year's Jurors are responsible for helping select the next jury. The Jurors' final duty is to each nominate two comic artists or writers whom they feel would be best suited for the job. The nominations are due to the Ignatz Awards Committee by October 1^st following The Expo’s SPX.

Jury selection is then up to the availability and/or willingness of the nominees. In the event that five Jurors cannot be found amongst the list of nominees by January 31st, or should a Juror be unable to fulfill his or her duties, the vacancies in the jury panel will be filled from a pool of alternates selected by the Ignatz Awards Committee.

Once all Juror positions have been accepted, the new jury will be provided with a copy of the guidelines for the award and its categories.

II. Conduct of the Jury

1. All Jurors are to remain anonymous, including within the Ignatz Jury, until the ballot is announced to the public. This is to insure that no one can be accused of having their votes influenced in any way. It also protects the Jurors from people campaigning for a nomination.

2. Ignatz Award eligible books are published between July 1st of the previous ballot year and June 30th of the current ballot year. No leeway can be given on this point. Publication date is determined by date of distribution. Submissions postmarked by June 30th will be accepted. If a question arises regarding the

publication date of a prospective nomination, please consult the Ignatz Awards Committee. The final submissions will be mailed to the Jurors by July 7th.

3. All submissions by artists and publishers for Ignatz Award consideration will be forwarded to the Jurors via Priority Mail. Jurors are reminded that these are courtesy copies provided to them by the artists and publishers to ensure that the Jurors have read them. Nominations are not restricted to submitted books. Should a Juror know of a book that he or she feels should be nominated but was not in the submission packet, the Juror is encouraged to do so. All Juror nominations are to be submitted by the third Saturday of August.

4. Jurors are prohibited from nominating their own work. However, since Jurors are not informed of the identities of the other Jury members, there is no prohibition from one Juror's work being nominated for an award by his or her fellow Jurors.

III. The Award Categories

Nominations for each category, unless otherwise noted, are to be submitted as follows; name of the individual, title and issue number and publisher (if known).

1.Outstanding Artist: Nominations for this category should reflect, in the Jurors' opinion, the best execution of graphic skill by an individual within the comic medium.

2. Outstanding Graphic Novel or Collection: This category includes both special one shots and collections of past work. A nomination in this category should represent what the Juror feels is the best overall use of art and story within a graphic novel format. When a Juror is considering a collection of past work, the manner in which the past work is presented within the collection should be considered, as well as the story or series that makes up the work.

3. Outstanding Story: This category is for outstanding storytelling in a comic. This may be an individual issue within a series, a one shot or a single story within an anthology. Nominations for a story within an anthology should also include the story title.

4. Promising New Talent: A person nominated in this category should be someone relatively new to the industry whose work a Juror feels deserves more recognition then it currently receives. Past nominees for this award cannot be nominated again (a list of past nominees will be provided to the Jurors). Nominations should include the title of the individual's latest work.

5. Outstanding Series: A nomination in this category should be for a series that the Juror feels exhibits a consistent level of quality as a whole. A good individual story does not necessarily translate into a nomination for the entire series.

6. Outstanding Comic: A comic nominated in this category should represent what the Juror feels is the best marriage of both art and story in a single issue of a comic.

7. Outstanding Minicomic: This category includes both one-shots and series. Minicomics are best defined as comics that are not "professionally" published. Minicomics are usually printed at the local copy store, hand stapled, and predominantly self-distributed. Minicomics are typically not solicited through major distributors.

8. Outstanding Online Comic: This category is for web based comics. A nominee in this category can be an individual comic, continuing storyline comic or strips. For a work to be eligible in this category it

must be published on the web prior to appearing in print format. Nominated sites must also adhere to the same publishing timeline as the categories for print material (excluding the Outstanding Debut Comic category). Works posted on web pages outside the timeline are not eligible. Nominated sites can utilize animation but should still be recognizable as a comic (“If you read it, it’s a comic. If you watch it,

it’s animation.” is the best guide for how much animation is too much). Links to submissions in this category will be forwarded to the Jurors.

Outstanding Online Comic category:

A submission for the Outstanding Online Comic category must have been published on the Web between July 1, 2000, and June 30, 2001. It can be an individual comic, continuing story-line comic, or strips. For a work to be eligible in this category, it must be published on the Web prior to appearing in print format. The site can utilize limited animation but should still be recognizable as a comic vs. straight animation. A rule of thumb is if you read the work (eligible) vs. watching it (ineligible). The deadline for submitting your site is June 30, 2002

To submit a nomination, you can either e-mail the url to expoignatz@ix.netcom.com or mail the url to the Awards snailmail address.

9. Outstanding Debut Comic: This category is for books premiering at The Expo’s SPX and is not nominated by the Ignatz Jury. The creator or his or her representative must be in attendance at the Expo’s SPX to be eligible for this category. Nominees must notify the Ignatz Awards Committee by the August 24th that they will be debuting the book at the show and want to be on the ballot. Notification should please include name (as preferred on the ballot), the name of the book being nominated and the publishers’ name (if applicable). Nominated books that ship the week of the show or later will be eligible in this category. Any nominated book that ships prior to this will be removed from the ballot.

IV. The Nomination Process

Each Juror makes three selections for each category. The selections are submitted in order of preference (first, second, and third choice) and are subject to the approval of the Ignatz Awards Committee (strictly to ensure the selections meet the criteria for their category; no Juror selection that is appropriate to the category will be rejected by the Ignatz Awards Committee). The selections are then assigned a number value: 5 points to the first choice, 3 points for the second choice, and 1 point for the third choice. These points are tallied and the five nominations with the highest number of points are placed on

the ballot to be voted on by the attendees. In the event of a tie, a run-off vote will be held among the Jurors until the tie is broken.

Once the ballot is final, the Ignatz Award nominees are released to the public along with the names of the Jurors.

V. The Voting Process

The Ignatz Award is a festival prize. Ballots are provided by the Expo’s SPX and are open to all persons in attendance, exhibitors and general public alike. After all the ballots have been collected on the day of the Awards, they are counted at the EXPO.

Once the final ballot has been counted, all materials pertaining to the voting process are locked up until they are ready to be presented at the Awards Ceremony.

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Small Press Expo Ignatz Page.

http://www.spxpo.com/ignatzaward.htm

A Brick chucking Mouse: Article about the Ignatz awards, in Sequential Tart magazine.

http://www.sequentialtart.com/archive/oct01/art_1001_14.shtml

Thanks heaps to Jeff Alexander for all the above information.