The 2025 First Graphic Novel Award is open for submission between 9th January 2025 and 22nd April 2025. The winner will be offered a contract by publisher SelfMadeHero and a £500 cash prize sponsored by The bks Agency.
The launch event takes place on Wednesday 15th January 2025 at Waterstones Piccadilly, which will be attended by the fabulous panel of this year’s judges and last year’s winner, Alex Taylor (aka azbt). Tickets are available from Waterstones.
“This is a great opportunity for comics creators looking to make their published debut,” says Award partner Joe Sullivan of the Cartoon Museum. “Whoever you are, if you have a story that no-one has told before, then we want to hear from you”.
“My advice is, no matter where you are in your artistic, creative journey, just go for it’ says 2023 award winner Alex Taylor. “Don’t hold yourself back. You’ll never know if your idea is any good until you throw it out there and get some feedback”.
Says Award Director Corinne Pearlman: “The Award is extremely proud of its success in reaching creatives from all identities and ages. Nearly a third of entrants to the 2023 award identified as other than white, a third identified as LGBTQI+ and a fifth as disabled or neurodivergent. A quarter were aged under 30, and a quarter aged 50 and over”.
The First Graphic Novel Award, a partnership between the Cartoon Museum, SelfMadeHero, and Award Director Corinne Pearlman, is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England. The award is open to anyone aged 18 and above who is resident in the UK, does not have an agent and has not had a full-length graphic work commercially published.
The panel of judges includes SelfMadeHero publisher Emma Hayley, contemporary artist Janette Parris (This Is Not a Memoir), and graphic novelists Shazleen Khan (Buuza), Karrie Fransman (Gender-Swapped Fairy Tales) and Oscar Zarate (Thomas Girtin). The judges will be attending the launch event at Waterstones Piccadilly on 15th January.
All entries will receive feedback. Longlisted entries will also be reviewed by literary agent James Spackman at The bks Agency and by chief book buyer Nessa Urquhart at Waterstones Piccadilly.
Bone Broth, by Alex Taylor (aka azbt), will be published by SelfMadeHero in 2025. It’s the story of Ash, a young transmasculine queer person breaking into adult working life as he starts his first job in a ramen shop in London. Joined by his colleagues on the wacky adventures they have along the way, he slowly learns the method by which the shop’s traditional bone broth is prepared. This knowledge seems increasingly relevant as one night after heavy drinking at the annual staff party, the team come to find their boss dead on the floor, and must find a creative way to deal with this bubbling situation before it boils over.
azbt is a transmasculine genderqueer queer artist, currently based in London. Influenced by his international background, queer identities, and experiences with mental health, azbt works primarily through illustration, comics and zines to explore emotional landscapes, human relationships, and the deconstruction of gender. In 2023 azbt was awarded a micro bursary for trans/non-binary comic creators from Thought Bubble Comic Art Festival, and won the First Graphic Novel Award for his Bone Broth.
• Tickets for the First Graphic Novel Launch Event are available here
• For details of entry, visit firstgraphicnovel.co.uk/2025-first-graphic-novel-award
• Alex Taylor aka azbt’s work can be found at azbtart.com or @azbtart
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: British Comics, Comic Art, Comics, Comics Competitions, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Events
Leave a Reply