Now in its fourth successful year, the Glyph Comics Awards (GCA) continue to honor the best in black comics and creators. Many new faces are among this year’s nominees, as well as some old familiar ones.

The nominees for 2009 are:

Story of the Year

Bayou, Jeremy Love, writer and artist

Incognegro; Mat Johnson, writer, Warren Pleece, artist

Justice League of America: The Second Coming; Dwayne McDuffie, writer, Ed Benes, artist

Pilot Season: Genius, Marc Bernardin & Adam Freeman, writers, Afua Richardson, artist

Presidential Material: Barack Obama; Jeff Mariotte, writer, Tom Morgan, artist

Best Writer

Marc Bernardin & Adam Freeman, Genius

Mat Johnson, Incognegro

Jeremy Love, Bayou

Jeff Mariotte, Presidential Material: Barack Obama

Dwayne McDuffie, Justice League of America

Best Artist

Jamal Igle, Supergirl

Jeremy Love, Bayou

Warren Pleece, Incognegro

Afua Richardson, Pilot Season: Genius

Larry Stroman, Black Panther Annual #1

Best Male Character

Black Lightning, Final Crisis: Submit; Grant Morrison, writer, Matthew Clark, Norm Rapmund, Rob Hunter & Don Ho, artists; created by Tony Isabella & Trevor von Eeden

Black Panther, Black Panther Annual #1; Reginald Hudlin, writer, Larry Stroman & Ken Lashley, artists; created by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby

Lwanga Moses, Unknown Soldier; Joshua Dysart, writer, Alberto Ponticelli, artist; inspired by the character created by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert

The Spectre, Final Crisis: Revelations; Greg Rucka, writer, Philip Tan, Jeff de los Santos & Jonathan Glapion, artists; inspired by the character created by Jerry Siegel & Bernard Bailey

Zane Pinchback, Incognegro; created by Mat Johnson, writer, and Warren Pleece, artist

Best Female Character

Destiny Ajaye, Pilot Season: Genius; created by Marc Bernardin & Adam Freeman, writers, Afua Richardson, artist

Lee Wagstaff, Bayou; created by Jeremy Love, writer and artist

Storm, X-Men: Worlds Apart; Christopher Yost, writer, Diogenes Neves, artist; created by Len Wein & Dave Cockrum

Vielle, Fungus Grotto; created by Shatia Hamilton, writer and artist

Vixen, Vixen: Return of the Lion; G. Willow Wilson, writer, Cafu, artist; created by Gerry Conway & Bob Oksner

Rising Star Award

Jennifer Crute, Jennifer’s Journal

Damian Duffy & John Jennings, The Hole: Consumer Culture

Charlie Goubile, Blackbird

Starline X. Hodge, Candi

Ashley Woods, Millennia War

Best Reprint Collection

Aya of Yop City, Drawn & Quarterly

Me and the Devil Blues V1, Del Rey

Nat Turner HC, Abrams

Best Cover

Final Crisis: Submit, Matthew Clark & Norm Rapmund, artists; Richard & Tonya Horie, colors

The Hole: Consumer Culture; John Jennings, illustrator

Pilot Season: Genius, Afua Richardson, illustrator

Unknown Soldier #1, Igor Kordey, illustrator

Vixen: Return of the Lion #1; Josh Middleton, illustrator

Best Comic Strip

Bayou, Jeremy Love, writer and artist

Café con Leche; Charlos Gary, writer and artist

Fungus Grotto, Shatia Hamilton, writer and art ist

“Jefferson Jacks” from Crankshaft; Tom Batiuk & Tony Isabella, writers, Chuck Ayers, artist

The K Chronicles, Keith Knight, writer and artist

Fan Award for Best Comic

Iron Man: Director of SHIELD #33-35; Christos Gage, writer, Sean Chen & Sandu Florea, artists

Pilot0ASeason: Genius; Marc Bernardin & Adam Freeman, writers, Afua Richardson, artist

Presidential Material: Barack Obama; Jeff Mariotte, writer, Tom Morgan, artist

Vixen: Return of the Lion; G. Willow Wilson, writer, Cafu, artist

Young Avengers Presents #1; Ed Brubaker, writer, Paco Medina, artist

The judges for the 2009 competition are: Valerie D’Orazio, president, Friends of Lulu; Mathan Erhardt, writer, Comics Nexus; Ed Mathews, columnist, Pop Image; Tim O’Shea, writer/interviewer, TalkingWithTim.com (and Robot 6); and Elayne Riggs, comics reviewer and commentator.

The ballot for the Fan Award for Best Comic is now open at the website for the East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention (ECBACC), www.ecbacc.com/wordpress, and will remain open through March 31, 2009. Write-in selections can be e-mailed to GCA Committee Chair Rich Watson at rich.watson@gmail.com. IMPORTANT: Write-in selections are ONLY for choices not on the online ballot. ANY WRITE-IN SELECTIONS FOR CHOICES ALREADY ON THE ONLINE BALLOT WILL NOT BE COUNTED AND WILL BE DISCARDED.

The 2009 GCA ceremony will be held May 15, 2009, in the Skyline Room of the Free Library of Philadelphia, Park Central branch, as part of ECBACC, which will take place at the Crown Plaza Philadelphia Center City, May 16, 2009.

About the Glyph Comics Awards:

The Glyph Comics Awards recognize the best in comics made by, for, and about people of color from the preceding calendar year. While it is not exclusive to black creators, it does strive to honor those who have made the greatest contributions to the comics medium in terms of both critical and commercial impact. By doing so, the goal is to encourage more diverse and high quality work across the board and to inspire new creators to add their voices to the fie ld.

The awards are named for the blog Glyphs: The Language of the Black Comics Community (http://glyphs.popcultureshock.com), started in 2005 by comics journalist Rich Watson as a means to provide news and commentary of comics with black themes, as well as tangential topics in the fields of black science-fiction/fantasy and animation.

About ECBACC:

The East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention (www.ecbacc.com/wordpress) is an annual gathering of comic book creators and retailers who create and sell material that caters to black readers of all ages. In addition to selling their work, they also take part in panel discussi ons and self-publishing workshops for aspiring creators. The show is held in Philadelphia each May. There is also a pre-show reception held the night before the show. ECBACC is an outgrowth of the original Black Age of Comics Convention in Chicago, founded by Turtel Onli.

For more information about ECBACC, contact event coordinator Maurice Waters at maurice.waters@ecbacc.com.