The Harvey Awards are given for achievement in comic books. Named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman (1924â€"1993), the Harvey Awards were founded by Gary Groth, president of the publisher Fantagraphics, as part of a successor to the Kirby Awards (which were discontinued after 1987).
The Harvey Awards are nominated by an open vote among comic-book professionals. The winners are selected from the top five nominees in each category by a final round of voting.
The Harveys are no longer affiliated with Fantagraphics. The Harvey Awards Executive Committee is made up of unpaid volunteers, and the Awards themselves are financed through sponsorships.
Since their inception, the awards have been presented at various fan conventions such as the Chicago Comicon, the Dallas Fantasy Fair, Wondercon, the Pittsburgh Comicon, the MoCCA Festival, and the Baltimore Comic-Con.
History
The Harvey Awards were created as an industry award voted on entirely by comics professionals (as opposed to awards like the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Awards and the Eagle Awards, which were also voted on by fans). The new awards also established several new categories from their predecessor the Kirby Awards, including awards for inking, lettering, coloring, and production design.
The Harvey Awards were initially sponsored by Fantagraphics, the Texas-based retailer Lone Star Comics, and the Eastern Region Comic Book Retailers Association (ERCBRA). Fantagraphics established the relationship with Harvey Kurtzman, designed the ballots, and compiled a mailing list of over 1,000 comics professionals. Employees at Lone Star Comics were in charge of tabulating the ballots.
The nominations for the first Harvey Awards were announced in May 1988 and presented at the Chicago Comicon in July 1988.
The Dallas Fantasy Fair hosted the awards from 1989 until the Fair's demise in 1996. The 1993 Awards presentation took place shortly after Kurtzman's death; weekend events at the convention were geared toward raising money to keep the awards going. Because of the last-minute nature of the Dallas Fantasy Fair's cancellation in July 1996, the awards banquet/presentation was cancelled and the awards were later mailed out to the recipients.
WonderCon hosted the awards from 1997â€"1999. The 2000â€"2002 awards were presented at the Pittsburgh Comicon, with Evan Dorkin serving as master of ceremonies. Jeff Smith was the keynote speaker of the 2000 awards. Frank Miller gave the keynote speech at the 2001 award ceremony, in which he vilified the comic book speculating industry, in particular Wizard magazine. He ended his speech by tearing up a copy of Wizard. Tony Millionaire gave the keynote speech at the 2002 awards ceremony. In 2003, due to a cancellation by scheduled keynote speaker Neil Gaiman, funding shortages forced the cancellation of that year's ceremony and banquet (which had also been scheduled for the Pittsburgh Comicon), although award-winners were still named.
In 2004 and 2005, the presentation was held at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art MoCCA Festival in New York City.
In 2006 the awards' presentation was moved to Baltimore Comic-Con, where it has been held annually ever since.
Categories
Awards are given out in the following categories:
- Best Writer
- Best Artist or Penciller
- Best Cartoonist (Writer/Artist)
- Best Inker
- Best Letterer
- Best Colorist
- Best Cover Artist
- Best New Series
- Best Continuing or Limited Series
- Best Single Issue or Story
- Best Graphic Album (discontinued after 1990)
- Best Graphic Album of Original Work
- Best Graphic Album of Previously Published Work
- Best Anthology
- Best Syndicated Strip or Panel
- Best Biographical, Historical, or Journalistic Presentation
- Best American Edition of Foreign Material
- Best Domestic Reprint Project
- Best New Talent
- Best Online Comics Work
- Special Award for Humor
- Special Award for Excellence in Production/Presentation
- The Hero Initiative Lifetime Achievement Award
- The Jack Kirby Hall of Fame
Past winners
See also
- Alley Award
- Bill Finger Award
- Eagle Award
- Eisner Award
- Inkpot Award
- Kirby Award
- National Comics Award
- Russ Manning Award
- Shazam Award
Notes
References
- Official website