Voting for the 6th annual Inkwell Awards (the “Inkwells”) has ended, the ballots have been tallied and the comic book inking advocacy now prepares for its third live awards ceremony at the 2013 Heroes Con June 7-9 to reveal the highly-anticipated results.
Categories include several more than just “Favorite Inker”, including the “Props” award for under-recognized professionals, and the S.P.A.M.I for favorite Small Press And Mainstream-Independent work. Voting was done online through the group’s web site and heavily promoted through Facebook, Twitter, comics sites and other outlets.
“After a long year of fundraising, programs, conventions, promotion, various duties and all of the passion and effort involved, the Inkwell family is always ecstatic to celebrate our goal of promoting the art form of Inking and the industry’s best Ink Artists” said Bob Almond, the non-profit organization’s founder and director. “We can never show enough gratitude to Heroes Con promoter Shelton Drum and his staff for making this mission an annual reality, supporting inkers in the community with the respect and recognition they deserve.”
This year the organization will have several members in attendance including ambassadors Adam Hughes, Cully Hamner and Mark Brooks, contributors Louis Small, Jr., Randy Green, Jay Leisten and Dan Panosian, plus committee members past and present, and many more. The Inkwell Awards plan to have model Chrissy Cutler, the first and original Ms. Inkwell from Pittsburgh Con in 2010, return to portray the Ms. Inkwell spokesperson character this year at this show.
The Inkwells will be set up in Artists Alley, offering for sale their annual 2013 Donation Drive book, which sports a sexy Ed Coutts Ms. Inkwell cover (based after the likeness of Chrissy), as well as previous donation books, which collect submitted donation art from contributors. Fans can also purchase the best-selling Joe Sinnott Inking Challenge books, color art and model photo prints, t-shirts and various donated items. Proceeds help fund ongoing efforts to fund operations, philanthropic programs like the Dave Simons Inkwell Memorial Scholarship Fund to the Kubert School and their mission to educate the public & promote the art form of inking.
The award ceremony is scheduled for June 8, Saturday afternoon at 12:30 in room 209/210. Guest speakers include Almond as host, Cully Hamner as Presenter, Jimmy Palmiotti as Keynote Speaker, and tentative surprise guests. The organization will present the winners from the five categories of nominees, as well as the recipients of the Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame Award (now handled internally by the core committee, associates and former award recipients) which each year recognizes two artists for a minimum of 25 years of outstanding career achievement.
Former Joe Sinnott Fall of Fame winners include Joe himself, Terry Austin, Dick Giordano, Klaus Janson, Al Williamson, Kevin Nowlan, Wallace Wood, Mark McKenna and Scott Williams. Current nominees included
Murphy Anderson, Dick Ayers, John Beatty, Ernie Chan, Frank Giacoia, Dan Green, Tom Palmer, Mike Royer, Josef Rubenstein, Joe Simon, Bernie Wrightson; plus Special Recognition nominations for
Joe Kubert (legendary creator, Editor and former Inkwell Ambassador) and Violet Barclay (AKA Valerie Smith), one of the few female Inkers during comics’ Golden Age of the 1940s.
Almond continued, “Choosing was tough for all. Each nominated artist certainly deserves the award but we could only choose two masters to be recognized this year. We hope to see an even better turn out this June in order to celebrate along with them.”
The Inkwell Awards is an official 501(c)3 non-profit organization whose mission is to educate and promote the art form of comic-book inking, as well as annually recognize and award the best ink artists and their work. Now in its fifth year, the organization is overseen by a committee of industry professionals and assisted by various professional ambassadors and numerous contributors. They sponsor the Dave Simons Inkwell Memorial Scholarship Fund for the Kubert School and host the Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame Award.
Web site: http://www.inkwellawards.com
