The Comedy Women in Print Prize includes Published Humorous Graphic Novels category

By John Freeman on December 11, 2019

The Comedy Women in Print (CWIP) Prize, the UK and Ireland’s first prize to shine a light on witty women, launched earlier this year with a call for submissions for 2020. The deadline for entries is Monday 2nd March 2020 and this year, a new category has been added – Published Humorous Graphic Novels.

Following a successful inaugural year, this year’s Prize is once again be supported by HarperCollins and the University of Hertfordshire with additional support from the Author’s Licensing and Collecting Society, and the University of Falmouth. Bestselling author, Marian Keyes, will return as Chair of Judges.

A new award celebrating the unsung genre of humorous graphic novels and developed in partnership with LDComics (formerly Laydeez Do Comics), the largest women-led comics forum in the UK, has also been added to the 2020 Prize line-up.

The CWIP Prize, officially launched at the Edinburgh Fringe in August 2018, was created by actress and stand-up comedian Helen Lederer in response to the lack of support and exposure for female comedy writing and as a way of discovering and nurturing new talent. The inaugural 2019 awards were won by Laura Stevens’ The Exact Opposite of Okay (Egmont) in the published novel category, and Kirsty Eyre’s Cow Girl in the unpublished novel category, due for release in June 2020 – with international bestseller Jilly Cooper given the Lifetime Achievement Award.

“The support and interest in CWIP has been overwhelming,” says Helen Lederer, founder of CWIP, “and proof that this prize had to happen. Someone had to do it and it might as well be me! The testimonials from the authors lifted my spirits.

“Witty writers have really progressed because of the prize and in so many different ways – in fact the support for each other via CWIP has been a revelation.

“For our second year we decided to go large and include a ‘published humorous graphic novel’ category as well – this is in association with LDComics so we can both shine a light on women’s wit in this important arena together. I’m also delighted to welcome back sponsors HarperFiction and University of Hertfordshire, in addition to brand new supporters the University of Falmouth and ALCS – it means we really are nurturing burgeoning wit as well as celebrating established authors.”

“LDComics is working in association with CWIP to support the new prize category because it reinforces the mission of LDComics,” added Dr Nicola Streeten, Director of LDComics, “changing the world through comics and our objectives of championing and supporting women graphic novelists and comics artists to achieve this.”

The CWIP published winner will receive a cash prize of £3000 from the Author’s Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS). For the unpublished category recognising rising comic talent, the winner will receive a publishing contract and a £5000 advance from HarperFiction. The unpublished runner-up receives £2000 from the University of Hertfordshire and mentoring from the MA course in Creative Writing. The second runner-up will receive a place on the online MA in Comedy from the University of Falmouth – the first of its kind in the country. The graphic novel category winner will also receive a cash prize, to be announced.

• The closing date for all awards is Monday 2nd March 2020 with the shortlists announced on Monday 8th June 2020 and the winners announced at a live ceremony in July 2020. For more details about CWIP and full terms and conditions visit www.comedywomeninprint.co.uk | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

John Freeman

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.