The Ringo Awards 2019 Nominations are Now Open
The Mike Wieringo Comic Book Industry Awards is an annual celebration of the creativity, skill, and fun of comics. The awards return for their third year on Saturday, October 19, 2019 as part of the fan- and pro-favorite convention, The Baltimore Comic-Con.
Unlike other professional industry awards, the Ringo Awards include fan participation in the nomination process along with an esteemed jury of comics professionals.
More than 20 categories will be celebrated with top honors being given at the awards ceremony in October.
Fan and Pro Nominations
Fan and pro-jury voting are tallied independently, and the combined nomination ballot is compiled by the Ringo Awards Committee. The top two fan choices become nominees, and the jury’s selections fill the remaining three slots for five total nominees per category. Ties may result in more than five nominees in a single category. Nominees will be listed on the ballot alphabetically. Nomination ballot voting will be open to the public (fans and pros) starting April 5, 2019 and will close June 20, 2019.
Final Ballot Voting
After processing by the Ringo Awards Committee and Jury, the Final Ballot are targeted to be available to comic creative professionals for voting on August 21, 2019 and will be due by September 18, 2019 for final tallying. Presentation of the winners will occur at the Baltimore Comic-Con on the evening of Saturday, October 19, 2019.
Nomination Eligibility
Eligibility for creators and creative works is determined by publication in the preceding calendar year – print publication date takes precedence over electronic publication date. For electronic works, the date of publication is time-stamped with most publications and at least 3 episodes/installments of continuing works must have appeared during the eligibility period.
Updated Rule for Fan Favorites
In Fan-Only Favorites, they have updated the rules as follows: All winners of these categories will be selected by open voting. A winner in a given year’s Fan Favorite category is not eligible to be nominated in that category the following year. These categories include: Favorite Hero, Favorite Villain, Favorite New Series, Favorite New Talent, and Favorite Publisher.
| Fan and Pro Nomination Categories * Best Cartoonist (Writer/Artist) * Best Writer * Best Artist or Penciller * Best Inker * Best Letterer * Best Colorist * Best Cover Artist * Best Series * Best Single Issue or Story * Best Original Graphic Novel * Best Anthology * Best Humor Comic * Best Comic Strip or Panel * Best Webcomic * Best Non-fiction Comic Work* Best Kids Comic or Graphic Novel* Best Presentation in Design |
| Jury-Only Nomination (with four bonus perennial jurors) * The Mike Wieringo Spirit Award |
| Fan-Only Favorite Categories * Favorite Hero * Favorite Villain * Favorite New Series * Favorite New Talent * Favorite Publisher |
| Hero Initiative Award (selected by the Hero Initiative) * The Hero Initiative Lifetime Achievement Award * The Dick Giordano Humanitarian Award |
Publisher Submissions
Publishers wishing to submit works for review by the Ringo Jurors can submit up to five submissions per “Fan and Pro Nomination” and “Jury-Only Nomination” category that they feel are worthy of consideration. To participate in this process, publishers are asked to have a single representative send an email to contact@ringoawards.com for information on how to send in your submission.
The 2018 
Michael Cavna is a cartoonist and creator of The Washington Post’s Eisner-nominated 
Marty Grosser is the Editor of Diamond Comic Distributors’ 
Karla Marsh-Southern is the Event and Exhibitor Coordinator for 
Rob Stull is an accomplished illustrator, curator, teacher, penciler, inker, designer, and creator of comic books. In addition to working through his own studio, Ink on Paper, he has worked over two decades for every major publisher in the industry, including Marvel and DC Comics, where his projects include: Spider-Man Adventures, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Iron Man, X-Force, Wolverine, Nightwing, 52, Firestorm, and more. He was a member of the original Tellos creative team with Todd Dezago, Mike Wieringo, and Paul Mounts, and inked Mike’s pencils on the initial series run published by Image Comics. He also inked the covers for the Mike Wieringo Tellos Tribute books and drew a chapter in Volume 1. He created and curated Sequential Art: The Next Step, a 10-year traveling exhibition spotlighting the work of African American comic book artists and their contributions to the industry and popular culture, and his work has been exhibited in galleries throughout the United States. He is featured in the ground-breaking books Black Comix: African American Independent Comics, Art and Culture and The History of American Graffiti. “I have always believed that all art is relative,” says Stull. “Sequential Art is a storytelling medium, but most visual art is telling a story of some kind.”
Gus Vazquez is an illustrator who has worked in nearly every field, including comic books, trading cards, storyboarding for music videos, commercials, animation and film, logo design, character and toy design, and more. He started his career in comic books working as an assistant to comic book artists Adam Pollina on X-Force, and Kevin McGuire on Trinity Angels. He got his first solo gig at Marvel Comics drawing the covers and interiors for Sunfire and Big Hero 6, the series that introduced the characters featured in Disney’s Oscar winning Big Hero 6. He has worked on such Marvel titles as Deadpool, X-Force, Spider-Man, What If? Civil War, What If? Back in Black, The Official Handbook if the Marvel Universe, and more. For DC, he has worked on such titles as Green Lantern, JLA, Blue Beetle, and most recently on Flash, Suicide Squad, and Green Arrow. Gus was the artist on several issues of Claudio Sanchez’s (of rock music group Coheed and Cambria) The Amory Wars, and was instrumental in helping bring together the creative team of his friends, David Atchison (writer) and Tony Shasteen (illustrator), and his niece, film and TV actress Rosario Dawson on 12 Gauge’s The O.C.T. Currently, Gus has been working for DC Comics on The Sasquatch Detective, a backup story which can be found in the pages of Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles, as well as DMC(Daryl Makes Comics) and on La Borinqueña. He is also working on his creator-owned book, Fang.
The 2017 Mike Wieringo Comic Book Industry Awards will be presented on the evening of Saturday, September 23, 2017 as part of the fan- and pro-favorite convention, The Baltimore Comic-Con. A limited number of tickets are now available for purchase by the public.
David is a cartoonist and children’s book illustrator who began his career in 2004 with the release of Voices, a self-published anthology from ComiXpress. Possessing a distinctive art style reminiscent of A.A. Milne (creator of Winnie the Pooh), Petersen has worked on such comics as The Dark Crystal, Snowy Valentine, and Muppets & Fairytales from Archaia, as well as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Micro-Series from IDW. His artwork also graced the cover for the 2012 Baltimore Comic-Con program, as well as the show-exclusive t-shirt.
