Today is a weird day for announcements. Baltimore Comic Con sent out a press release saying “goodbye” to the Harvey Awards. The awards ceremony started in 1988, the awards had been held at the convention since 2005. But, it doesn’t look like that is the case in 2017. The reasons aren’t clear and so far no one has spoken as to why.

The awards ceremony started in 1988, the awards had been held at the convention since 2005. But, it doesn’t look like that is the case in 2017. The reasons aren’t clear and so far no one has spoken as to why.

The ceremony had previously been held at Chicago Comicon, Dallas Fantasy Fair, WonderCon, Pittsburgh Comicon, MoCCA Festival and for ten years Baltimore, their longest run at any location.

In the press release sent by Baltimore Comic Con, they said:

The Baltimore Comic-Con is proud to have served as the host the Harvey Awards. During our eleven years as the longest-running host and primary sponsor, the awards grew in participation and stature, and were broadened to include appreciation of material such as Best Online Comics Work and Best Original Graphic Publication For Younger Readers.

We’re thankful to the Harvey Awards Committee, headed by Paul McSpadden, for bringing the awards to Baltimore, and the guidance and assistance of Denis Kitchen and Nellie Kurtzman for recognizing that the Baltimore Comic-Con was the right home for the awards. We’d also like to thank the award’s hosts over the years, including Kyle Baker, Scott Kurtz, Phil Lamar, Vivek J. Tiwary, Michael Uslan, and Bill Willingham, as well as the many keynote speakers including Sergio Aragones, Brian Michael Bendis, Dean Haspiel, Ross Richie, Jerry Robinson, and Gail Simone, and Mark Waid. We must also thank the countless sponsors, volunteers, presenters, nominees, winners, and voting members of the comics community.

We are proud to have presented to Harvey Awards ceremony attendees such memorable moments as Stan Lee and John Romita Sr. sharing the stage together, the tribute to Nick Cardy, and the various hilarious videos (including ones with the real Stan Lee and the fake one!) that became recurring features of the event. We wish the event continued luck in the future in their new venue, which we expect to be announced by the Harvey Awards Committee in the coming days.

The Baltimore Comic-Con is a celebration of comic books and cartooning and as such, we owe a great debt to Harvey Kurtzman. Hosting the Harvey Awards was, to us, an expression of our love for Harvey’s work and a celebration of the creators who follow in his footsteps.

We’ll update when we find out more about the reason for the split and if the Harvey Awards will even happen next year, though expect it to wind up at another show.

Updated: It’s been reported that ReedPop, the company behind New York Comic Con and other shows, has purchased the awards show.