In this edition of the ye olde Awards Roundup, three annual awards are now accepting applications, including the Eisner Award, France has introduced yet another comics award, and the British Book Awards has introduced a graphic novel category (also accepting applications).
Now accepting applications for the 2026 Eisner Awards
Comic-Con International has announced that submissions for the 2026 Eisner Awards are now open. The deadline is March 13th. The finalist list will be announced in May, and the winners will be announced at the Eisner Awards Ceremony on Friday, July 24 (SDCC ’26 weekend).
Publishers, subsidiaries and imprints may submit up to five nominations per category. The tentative categories (subject to change) are:
Best short stories Best single issues/single works Best continuing comic series (at least two issues must have been published in 2025) Best limited comic series (at least half of the series must have been published in 2025) Best new comic series, best limited comic series Best publications for children and youth Best anthologies Best humor publications Best U.S. editions of international materials Best graphic albums – new best graphic albums – Reprints Best Reality-Based Works Best Graphic Memoirs Best Adaptations from Another Medium Best Digital Comics Best Webcomics Best Archive Collections Best Writers Best Writers/Artists Best Pencilers/Inkers (Individual or Team) Best Artists (Interior Art) Best Lettering Best Coloring Best Cover Artists Best Comic Book or Periodical Best Academic/Academic Works Best Publication Design Graphic Medicine Awards 2026 Applications Now Open
Graphic Medicine International Collective (GMIC) has opened applications for its annual Graphic Medicine Awards. They are looking for completed or published works that meaningfully engage with healthcare and health issues (physical, mental, social).
There are three categories for entries: full-length, short (28 pages or less), and educational manga. Educational comics must have an educational purpose, while long-form and short-form categories include fiction, nonfiction, biography, memoir, graphic journalism, and more.
Eligibility period is from January 1, 2025 to December 31, 2025. The deadline is January 31st. The finalist list will be announced on April 30, and the winners will be announced during the 2026 Graphic Medicine Conference, July 23-25 at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Winners each receive $600 and a swag.
GMIC introduces the Graphic Medicine Awards in 2022, supported entirely by donations. All the nominees and winners were very interesting, and the GMIC website was a useful resource for finding work that deals with confusing or difficult themes.
Last year’s winner was Boum’s The Jellyfish (Pow Pow), which won Best Full-length Comic. “Sunflowers,” by Kesey Young (Silver Sprocket), Best Short Comic Award; “Breathe: Journeys to Healthy Binding” by Maia Kobabe and Dr. Sara Peitzmeyer (Penguin Random House).
Now accepting applications for CARTOONIST STUDIO PRIZE 2026
Manga Research Center has started accepting applications for the 14th Manga Artist Studio Awards. This annual award focuses on comics in the small publishing industry and the self-publishing world, and consists of two categories: Best Full-length Comic of the Year and Best Short-Short Comic of the Year.
Eligible works must be produced (or translated) in English and first released in print or online/digitally between January 1 and December 31, 2025. A short work is defined as less than 100 pages, and a full-length work is defined as 80 pages or more. For works between 80 and 100 pages, it is up to the author’s discretion to place the work in any of the following categories. Deadline is February 28, 2026. Winners will each receive $500. The shortlist and winners will be announced in April.
Last year’s long and short story winners were “Evil Eyes Sea” (Uncivilized Books) by Ozge Samansi and “Autobiography Has Become A Stone In My Shoe” by Peony Gent.
New French Comics Award first nominee makes debut
France has a fairly competitive market for both comics (locally known as Bande Dessinée, BD) and comics awards, many of which are run by news agencies, bookstores and major festivals. Now, a new award has been added. It’s le Prior BD France Télévisions (French Television Comics Award).
France Television is a national public broadcaster. The new Prix BD France TV, announced on December 18th, will complement the company’s existing awards, Prix Roman (book prize) and Prix Essai (essay prize). The final candidate list was announced on January 6th.
The works at issue are:
Ancolie, by Salome Laouche, Taïs Guimard (Grenats) Ses lignes qui tracent mon corps (tr. “These lines that trace my body”), by Mansoure Kamali (Casterman) Detroit Roma, by Hélène Usdin & Boni (Sarbacanu) Rouge Signal (“Red Signal”), by Laurie Agusti (2042) Sangliers (tr. ‘Wild Boars’), by Lisa Blumen (L’Employé du Moi) Silent Jenny, by Mathieu Bablet (Label 619) — English version from Magnetic Press October 2026 Une Obsession (tr. ‘An Obsession’), by Nine Antico (Charivari/Dargaud) Virgile, Zidrou & Lucy Mazel (Le) Lombard) — Europe Comic Digital version available in English through
France TV’s selection jury of nine literary and cultural experts selected the eight shortlisted titles. A committee of 11 members of the public from the populous Île-de-France region (a region of Paris) will now read the documents aloud before a January 30 meeting with the selection jury to choose the winners.
The announcement coincides with a week (January 26th to 31st) of a special comics-focused show on French television, usually during Angoulême, the country’s biggest comics event.
Graphic novel enters British Book Awards
Announced on December 11th, the British Book Awards (also known as Nibbies) have finally added a category dedicated to graphic novels.
In a major overhaul of the awards (with some categories being phased out, renamed or merged), three new categories have been introduced to the gala industry event’s roster: Science Fiction & Fantasy, Romantic Fiction, and Graphic Novels. This likely reflects the significant increase in sales of all three book categories that the UK has seen in recent years. The last expansion of the award occurred in 2023, adding two audiobook categories (fiction/nonfiction).
The Nibbies is currently run by British trade publication The Bookseller and has been around since 1990. The 2026 edition will be held in London on May 11th and finalists will be announced in March. Submissions are now being accepted, with the deadline set for January 29th at 5pm GMT.
According to the guidelines, the work must be “book length and first printed or distributed in the UK in sequential art form in 2025”. Categories include Manga. Among the requirements, publishers must provide sales data for their books and other award nominations/wins, acquisition stories, and marketing and sales strategies for their books. You must also submit 8 copies of this book. If you are shortlisted, you will need to supply an additional 10 copies and pay an additional £1,825 ($2,500), or £300 ($400) if you are a small publisher with fewer than 10 employees, to cover the overall promotion and marketing of the event.
Comics/graphic novels are in a somewhat tricky position in the UK book industry (they have been absent from the London Book Fair program for years), as attitudes towards the medium are often negative at best. Thankfully, there is a money story. The book category has seen an influx of young and YA readers snapping up children’s titles and manga (while adult sales growth has remained relatively flat). The Graphic Novel Book of the Year will be open to both children’s and adult titles published or distributed in the UK in 2025, and it will be a very interesting mix when the shortlist is announced.
It’s going to be weird either way, since the Nibbies website says, “Winning the Graphic Novel Book of the Year award requires a combination of three things: the creative talent of the author and/or illustrator, great publication, and tremendous sales/chart success, including consistent annual sales.” In this second part, the shortlist will definitely skew toward best-selling children’s titles, YA titles, and manga.
Until now, comics have sneaked onto the British Book Awards list through the back door of the children’s picture book category. Over the years, Alice Osman’s Heartstopper and Jamie Smart’s Bunny vs. Monkey (and the British version of Dav Pilkey’s Dog Man) could be seen standing proudly alongside earlier hits. Additionally, Oarsman and Smart were named Illustrators of the Year in 2023 and 2024.
The UK has some of the leading publishers and printers of this format. Titan, Rebellion, SelfMadeHero, Jonathan Cape Graphic Novels, David Fickling Books, Avery Hill Publishing, Bog-Eyed Books, and Breakdown Press to name a few.
Something like this:
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