A reminder that submissions are open for the 2021 LDComics Women’s Graphic Novel Awards. Full details in the press release below. Work should be submitted via the LDComics website here. The deadline for entries is July 31st 2021 (digital) and printed version 31st August 2021.
LDComics is happy to announce that our annual women’s graphic novel competition is back this year and ready to seek out the new, up and coming talent! Digital submissions opened on 26th April and we are excited to scout out some great new comic ideas.
The LDComics Awards are the first prizes for a graphic novel in progress open to women-identifying artists only. Our aim is to recognise and celebrate the huge potential of comics that are currently being produced by women in the UK and Ireland. The LDComics Award will be awarded to the graphic novel in progress that shows the most promise, in the opinion of the judges.
The prize itself consists of a £2,000 award to the overall winner, with the five shortlisted entries also receiving £200 each. Our LDC 2020 winner was Rima Sabina Aouf with her graphic novel ‘Yugo’,
“Yugo is a biography of my mother that contains the history of Yugoslavia as a nation. It examines the nature of historical memory, nostalgia and national identity, while telling the story of one ordinary life in an extraordinary place and time”.
We want to encourage diversity and provide a platform for works in progress to be acknowledged. In addition to the cash prize, shortlisted entries will be guaranteed a place in an online weekend residency with LDC, including one-to-one critical feedback sessions with leading graphic novelists. We mustn’t forget that one of the shortlisted entries will be awarded The Rosalind B. Penfold Prize for ‘finding your voice over the age of 50’. The Penfold Prize recognizes that women of all ages should be given the chance to express their voice, especially those who have found their passion for comics later and have a lifetime of important domestic experiences worth documenting. The LDC 2020 Rosalind B. Penfold prize was awarded to Denise Dorrance for ‘Polar Vortex’; “a humorous and touching tale of confronting life and death, revisiting your past, and the universally complex nature of family.”