Location Melbourne First awarded 2005 | Country Australia | |
Awarded for Excellence in Australian comic art and publishing Official website | ||
The Ledger Awards are prizes awarded to "acknowledge excellence in Australian comic art and publishing." Named after pioneering Australian cartoonist Peter Ledger (1945–1994), the awards were first held in 2005 to help promote and focus attention on Australian creators and their projects, both in Australia and overseas. Initially, the awards were held annually and announced online on or around Australia Day, 26 January. In recent years, they have been held at the State Library of Victoria on the Friday evening before the Melbourne Supanova convention.
Contents
History
The Ledger Awards began in 2004 as a fully independent, non-profit initiative. They were presented under the auspices of LitterArtsy, a non-profit coalition of creators, publishers and web sites promoting literacy, creativity, craft and excellence through comics and sequential art, and had no affiliations or links with organisations, businesses, or other parties.
The Ledger Awards were presented annually until 2007, when they went on hiatus. In 2010 it was announced that a new Ledger Awards Organising Committee had been formed; the Committee held an inaugural meeting, with a view to the awards being re-established in 2011.
In late 2013, it was announced that the Ledger Awards would return after a five-year hiatus in April 2014, with a new major sponsor, Supanova Pop Culture Expo. The 2014 Ledger Awards ceremony was held 11 April 2014, at the State Library of Victoria.
On 12 April 2014, the Ledger Awards named "gap year" award recipients for the years 2008–2013 when no Ledger Awards were distributed.
2004
Nominees were suggested through a forum thread, compiled into a poll and winners were decided by popular vote. The winners were announced on Australian Day, 2005.
The nominees and winners in the first year were
PERSON OF THE YEAR
ACHIEVEMENT OF THE YEAR
NEW TALENT DESERVING WIDER RECOGNITION
SMALL PRESS TITLE OF THE YEAR
INDEPENDENT PRESS TITLE OF THE YEAR
INTERNATIONAL TITLE OF THE YEAR
ANTHOLOGY OF THE YEAR
WEBCOMIC OF THE YEAR
WRITER OF THE YEAR
ARTIST OF THE YEAR
INKER OF THE YEAR
COLOURIST OF THE YEAR
LETTERER OF THE YEAR
COVER ARTIST OF THE YEAR
SINGLE ISSUE OR STORY OF THE YEAR
COMIC STRIP OF THE YEAR
RETAIL OUTLET OF THE YEAR
DESIGN OR PRESENTATION OF THE YEAR
LEDGER OF HONOUR
2005
Feedback from the first Awards resulted in a reduction in categories and the installation of a Judges Panel. Again, nominations were made by the public through postings on a message board forum. Some categories were decided by public vote, others were judged by the panel.
The first iteration of the Judges Panel was Mark Selan, Denis Kitchen, Roger Langridge, Glen Lumsden and Kevin Patrick. Denis Kitchen pulled out and was replaced with Mark Waid, Waid was then replaced by RC Harvey. Both Langridge and Harvey were replaced by Tad Pietrzykowski and Gary Chaloner.
The popular voted winners were announced on Australia Day 2006.
Publicly voted categories
ACHIEVEMENT OF THE YEAR (Australian artist, publisher, entrepreneur or event - business or creative)
TALENT DESERVING WIDER RECOGNITION (In recognition of excellence in 2005 - print or web)
RETAIL OUTLET OF THE YEAR (In recognition of Australian retail excellence and support during the year)
FAVOURITE FOREIGN COMIC BOOK OR GRAPHIC NOVEL OF THE YEAR (Favourite comic book or graphic novel (English or foreign language) released by overseas publishers during the year)
FAVOURITE FOREIGN CREATOR OF THE YEAR (Favourite international creator (artist, writer etc.) with work released during the year)
Peer voted categories
The Judges Awards were announced at Doujicon on 28 July 2006
SMALL PRESS TITLE OF THE YEAR (Mini comics, zines featuring comic content etc.)
INDEPENDENT PRESS TITLE OF THE YEAR (Local publishers distributing mainly in Australia)
INTERNATIONAL TITLE OF THE YEAR (Titles distributed overseas and within Australia featuring Australian talent)
WEBCOMIC OR COMIC OF THE YEAR (Webcomics or comic strips produced by Australian creators)
WRITER OF THE YEAR (In recognition of writing excellence in 2005 by an Australian creator - print or web)
ARTIST OF THE YEAR (Full art, penciller, painter or multimedia. In recognition of excellence in 2005 by an Australian creator - print or web)
SINGLE ISSUE OR STORY OF THE YEAR (In recognition of excellence in a particular issue or short story in 2005 by an Australian creator/s - print or web)
PRODUCTION DESIGN OF THE YEAR (Australian artist, publisher, entrepreneur or event - business or creative)
LEDGER OF HONOUR (Nominees chosen from Australian creators, publishers or retailers past or present)
2006
The nominees for work published in the 2006 calendar year, and to be presented in 2007 are as follows:
Publicly voted categories
ACHIEVEMENT OF THE YEAR
RETAIL OUTLET OF THE YEAR
FAVOURITE FOREIGN COMIC BOOK OR GRAPHIC NOVEL OF THE YEAR
FAVOURITE FOREIGN CREATOR OF THE YEAR
LEDGER OF HONOUR
Jury selection
The following categories will be decided by the judging panel from the top nominations listed:
AUSTRALIAN TITLE OF THE YEAR
INTERNATIONAL TITLE OF THE YEAR
WEBCOMIC OR COMIC STRIP OF THE YEAR
WRITER OF THE YEAR
ARTIST OF THE YEAR
SINGLE ISSUE OR STORY OF THE YEAR
PRODUCTION DESIGN OF THE YEAR
2007
The nominees and winners for 2007 were:
AUSTRALIAN TITLE OF THE YEAR (local publishers distributing mainly in Australia)
INTERNATIONAL TITLE OF THE YEAR (titles distributed overseas and within Australia featuring Australian talent)
WEBCOMIC OR COMIC STRIP OF THE YEAR (produced by Australian creators)
WRITER OF THE YEAR (print or web)
ARTIST OF THE YEAR (full art, penciller, painter or multimedia. Print or web)
SINGLE ISSUE OR STORY OF THE YEAR (print or web)
PRODUCTION DESIGN OF THE YEAR (Australian comic, website, publication or event)
ACHIEVEMENT OF THE YEAR (Australian artist, publisher, entrepreneur or event. Business or creative)
RETAIL OUTLET OF THE YEAR (in recognition of Australian retail excellence and support in 2006)
FAVOURITE FOREIGN COMIC BOOK OR GRAPHIC NOVEL OF THE YEAR (favourite comic book or graphic novel (English or foreign language) released by overseas publishers during the year)
FAVOURITE FOREIGN CREATOR OF THE YEAR (favourite international creator (artist, writer etc.) with work released during the year)
LEDGER OF HONOUR (nominees chosen from Australian creators, publishers or retailers past or present).