Using Awards Lists As a RA Tool: Eisner Awards Edition

This is part of my ongoing series on using Awards Lists as a RA tool. Click here for all posts in the series in reverse chronological order. Click here for the first post which outlines the details how to use awards lists as a RA tool.

Over the weekend, the 32nd Annual Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards were announced. You can watch the ceremony for free at this link. Or go here to see the full list of winners.

I have reposted the summary of the event for those who just care about the highlights at the end of  this  post. 

Please remember to use the links at the top of this post to see all of the ways in which I suggest you can use any awards list to help patrons, but this award is a particularly good option for highlighting your graphic novel collection for all age levels in one place. It can be a display [virtual or in person] where patrons can find titles for every member of the family at once. 

We don't do enough of  this. As an institution we are always breaking things up by age ranges. I get why  and know it is practical in general, but we never seem to waiver from it. We keep  things  stuck in their   age appropriate  silos even though we are visited by members of the  same family who fit in different age levels all at once, all of the time. This is a good chance to show [not tell] our patrons that the library is for everyone. 

Also, don't forget  that Hoopla provides a ton of access to digital graphic novels too. All of the winners are generally available.

Please see the summary below and click here for the full report on every winner. Congrats to all winners and nominees [a full list of whom you can access here].

Laura Dean Is Breaking Up with Me and Invisible Kingdom Are Top Winners at 2020 Eisner Awards

The 32nd Annual Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards were presented at a virtual ceremony on Friday evening, July 24. (Click here to watch this year’s ceremony.)

The top winners of the evening were Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O’Connell’s graphic novel Laura Dean Is Breaking Up with Me (Best Publication for Teens, Best Writer, Best Penciller/Inker; published by First Second/Macmillan) and G. Willow Wilson and Christian Ward’s comic book series Invisible Kingdom (Best New Series, Best Writer, Best Painter; published by Berger Books/Dark Horse).

Multiple Eisners also went to Lynda Barry for Making Comics (Best Comics-Related Book, Best Publication Design; published by Drawn & Quarterly); Raina Telgelemier for Guts (Best Publication for Kids, Best Writer/Artist; published by Scholastic/Graphix); and Stan Sakai for Best Lettering (on Usagi Yojimbo, published by IDW) and Best Archival Collection/Project (Stan Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo: The Complete Grasscutter; IDW).

The Best Graphic Album–New trophy went to Are You Listening by Tillie Walden (published by First Second/Macmillan), while Best Reality-Based Work was awarded to George Takei’s memoir They Called Us Enemy (by Justin, Eisinger, Steve Scott, and Harmony Becker, published by IDW/Top Shelf). In the comics categories, Image’s Bitter Root by David Walker, Chuck Brown, and Sanford Greene won Best Continuing Series, while Best Limited Series went to Little Bird by Darcy Van Poelgeest and Ian Bertram (also Image).

The publisher that can boast the most winners is Dark Horse, with the three for Invisible Kingdom plus Best Adaptation for Snow, Glass, Apples by Neil Gaiman and Colleen Doran and a share of Dave Stewart’s award for Best Coloring. Other publishers with multiple awards include First Second/Macmillan (for Laura Dean and Are You Listening); Image for Continuing Series, Limited Series, Cover Artist (Emma Rios, Deadly Class), and shared Coloring; IDW for Sakai’s works and They Called Us Enemy; and Drawn & Quarterly for Making Comics and for Best Short Story (Ebony Flowers’ “Hot Comb”). Publishers with two trophies each include Fantagraphics, Scholastic Graphix, and VIZ Media.

The event was hosted by voice actor/comedian Phil LaMarr (MadTV, Samurai Jack, Futurama, Justice League), who announced the nominees and winners in 31 categories. Eisner Awards Administrator Jackie Estrada opened and closed the ceremony.

Sergio Aragonés presented the Hall of Fame Awards. The Judges’ Choices were Nell Brinkley and E. Simms Campbell. The elected inductees were Alison Bechdel, Howard Cruse, Louise Simonson, Stan Sakai, Don and Maggie Thompson, and Bill Watterson. Bechdel, Simonson, Sakai, and Thompson all accepted their awards via videos; Cruse’s husband, Ed Sederbaum, accepted on Howard’s behalf.

The Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award, presented by Bob’s daughter Ruth Clampett, had three recipients this year: The Hero Initiative, Creators4Comics, and Comicbook United Fund.

The Eisner Awards are part of, and underwritten by, Comic-Con International: San Diego, a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to creating awareness of and appreciation for comics and related popular art forms, primarily through the presentation of conventions and events that celebrate the historic and ongoing contributions of comics to art and culture.

CLICK HERE for all of the winners.