British Comic Awards launched

By John Freeman on July 2, 2012

News today (via The Emperor and the Forbidden Planet Blog) of the launch of the British Comic Awards website.

The British Comic Awards is described as a brand new initiative to annually celebrate the very best in British comics. The organisers aim to commend and highlight the best stories told by writers and illustrators over the past twelve months.

“Our awards recognise the finest examples of creativity, ingenuity, skill and originality in sequential storytelling in all genres and formats. We don’t distinguish between printed work and digital, or between published and self-published work; our only criteria is that the creator(s) be from the UK.

“The Awards are designed to focus on the work itself and the wonderful stories being told by the wealth of talent in this country.”

There are only five awards which will emphasise the high quality of all the nominated books, not just the winners and these are:

• Best Comic for short-form, self-contained stories.

• Best Book for long-form comics and collections.

• Young People’s Comic Award for short and long form comics suitable for children voted for by young people.

• Emerging Talent to recognise irrepressible talent and potential in a young or new creator.

• Hall of Fame to commemorate the career and legacy of an influential figure from Britain’s rich comic history.

More details about each category can be found on the site’s Awards page.

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.