The Harvey Awards are given for achievement in

comic books A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are oft ...

. Named for writer-artist

Harvey Kurtzman Harvey Kurtzman (; October 3, 1924 – February 21, 1993) was an American cartoonist and editor. His best-known work includes writing and editing the parodic comic book '' Mad'' from 1952 until 1956, and writing the ''Little Ann ...

, the Harvey Awards were founded by Gary Groth in 1988, president of the publisher Fantagraphics, to be the successor to the Kirby Awards that were discontinued in 1987. The Harvey Awards are now nominated by the Harvey Awards Nomination Committee. The winners are selected by an open vote among comic-book professionals. The Harveys are no longer affiliated with Fantagraphics. The Harvey Awards Executive Committee is made up of unpaid volunteers, and the Awards are financed through sponsorships. Since their inception, the awards have been hosted at a string of

comic book conventions A comic book convention or comic-con is an event with a primary focus on comic books and comic book culture, in which comic book fans gather to meet creators, experts, and each other. Commonly, comic conventions are multi-day events hosted at co ...

, starting at the

Chicago Comicon Fan Expo Chicago (formerly Wizard World Chicago Comic Con, and commonly known as the Chicago Comicon), is a comic book convention held during the summer in Rosemont, Illinois, United States, at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center. It was ...

, and subsequently moving to the

Dallas Fantasy Fair The Dallas Fantasy Fair was an annual multi-genre fan convention held between 1982 and 1995 in Dallas, Texas. From 1989 until the show's demise in 1996, it was the home of the Harvey Award ceremonies. During its heyday, the show was one of the lar ...

Wondercon WonderCon is an annual comic book, science fiction, and film convention held in the San Francisco Bay Area (1987–2011), then—under the name WonderCon Anaheim—in Anaheim, California (2012–2015, 2017–present), and WonderCon Los Angele ...

, the

Pittsburgh Comicon The Pittsburgh Comicon, later known as Wizard World Comic Con Pittsburgh and since succeeded by Steel-City Con, was a comic book convention held in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1994 by Michael and Renee George. It ...

, the MoCCA Festival, the Baltimore Comic-Con, and currently the

New York Comic Con The New York Comic Con is an annual New York City fan convention dedicated to Western comics, graphic novels, anime, manga, video games, cosplay, toys, movies, and television. It was first held in 2006. History The New York Comic Con is a ...

History

The Harvey Awards were created as an industry award voted on entirely by comics professionals (as opposed to awards such as the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Awards and the Eagle Awards, which were also voted on by fans). The new awards established several categories that were new from their predecessor the

Kirby Awards The Jack Kirby Comics Industry Awards were a set of awards for achievement in comic books, presented from 1985-1987. Voted on by comic-book professionals, the Kirby awards were the first such awards since the Shazam Awards ceased in 1975. Sponsore ...

, including awards for inking, lettering, coloring, and production design.C. M. "Behind the Harveys," ''The Comics Journal'' #122 (June 1988), p. 19. The Harvey Awards were initially sponsored by Fantagraphics, the Texas-based retailer

Lone Star Comics Lone Star Comics was a chain of comic book stores located in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in north central Texas. The chain's offerings included comic books, action figures, gaming supplies, videos, and many other pop culture items. Originally es ...

, and the Eastern Region Comic Book Retailers Association (ERCBRA). Fantagraphics established the relationship with

, designed the ballots, and compiled a mailing list of more than 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 the awards were presented at the

in July 1988. The

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 the Dallas Fantasy Fair was cancelled at the last minute in July 1996, the awards banquet/presentation was also cancelled. The awards were later mailed out to the recipients.Dean, Michael. "Newswatch: 2002 Harvey Awards: Motivations and Mathematics," ''The Comics Journal'' #244 (June 2002), pp. 16–21.

WonderCon WonderCon is an annual comic book, science fiction, and film convention held in the San Francisco Bay Area (1987–2011), then—under the name WonderCon Anaheim—in Anaheim, California (2012–2015, 2017–present), and WonderCon Los Angele ...

hosted the awards from 1997 to 1999.George, Michael; George, Renee (January 24, 2003)
"2003 Harvey Awards Banquet Cancelled, Awards Unaffected
CBR.com. The 2000–2002 awards were presented at the

,Mervis, Scott (April 27, 2001). "Heroic comeback," ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette''. p. 22. 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''.Brady, Matt (Sept. 27, 2008)
"Baltimore Comic Con '08: 2008 Harvey Awards Announced"
Newsarama. Tony Millionaire gave the keynote speech at the 2002 awards ceremony. In 2003, due to a cancellation by scheduled keynote speaker

Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon GaimanBorn as Neil Richard Gaiman, with "MacKinnon" added on the occasion of his marriage to Amanda Palmer. ; ( Neil Richard Gaiman; born 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, gra ...

, funding shortages forced the cancellation of that year's ceremony and banquet (which had been scheduled for the Pittsburgh Comicon). The award winners were announced at the convention. In 2004 and 2005, the presentation was held at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art MoCCA Festival in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. In 2006 the awards' presentation was moved to Baltimore Comic-Con, where it was subsequently held annually through 2016. During this era, Paul McSpadden served as the Harvey Awards administrator. Beginning on October 7, 2017, the Harvey Award ceremony was moved to the

. The first year, only a small reception honoring the legacy of Harvey Kurtzman was held, and no nominations or voting took place. Darwyn Cooke was posthumously awarded Harvey Awards Hall of Fame induction, presented by Adam Kubert and accepted by Cooke's widow Marsha. In 2018, the 30th anniversary of the awards was celebrated with a full ceremony held during the convention. Beginning that year, the Harvey Awards were revised to six new categories for the main awards and three possible Special Awards. The main award nominations go to works instead of individuals. The nomination process was also revamped to be done by a selection committee instead of an open vote. Final selection for the main awards was still done by an open vote by industry professionals. In 2019, the Harvey Awards gala was held on October 4, at an invite only gala in New York City during New York Comic Con. In addition to announcing the winners in the individual nominated categories, seven creators were inducting into the Harvey Awards Hall of Fame including Mike Mignola and

Alison Bechdel Alison Bechdel ( ; born September 10, 1960) is an American cartoonist. Originally known for the long-running comic strip ''Dykes to Watch Out For'', she came to critical and commercial success in 2006 with her graphic memoir ''Fun Home'', which ...

. The inclusion of an additional five creators inducted posthumously,

Will Elder William Elder (born Wolf William Eisenberg; September 22, 1921 – May 15, 2008) was an American illustrator and comic book artist who worked in numerous areas of commercial art but is best known for a frantically funny cartoon style that helped ...

, Jack Davis, Marie Severin,

John Severin John Powers Severin (; December 26, 1921 – February 12, 2012) was an American comics artist noted for his distinctive work with EC Comics, primarily on the war comics ''Two-Fisted Tales'' and ''Frontline Combat''; for Marvel Comics, ...

, and Ben Oda, served to correct past omissions. In regards to these additional inductees, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', quoted Harvey Awards co-chair John Lind as explaining “We decided to balance the induction class with some of the past creators who may have been overlooked.” In October 2020, the Harvey Awards were presented during a virtual ceremony broadcast "as part of

and

MCM Comic Con The MCM Comic Con London (formerly known as the London Movies, Comics, and Media Expo, London MCM Expo, and MCM London Comic Con) is a speculative fiction fan convention held at the ExCel London twice yearly since 2002, usually on the last wee ...

’s Metaverse, hosted by

Vivek Tiwary Vivek J. Tiwary (born May 15, 1973) is an American author and theater producer. Early life Vivek J. Tiwary was born in New York City to immigrant parents from India. He graduated from New York's Collegiate School high school and, in 1996, from ...

and featuring appearances from

Gene Luen Yang Gene Luen Yang (Chinese Traditional: 楊謹倫, Simplified: 杨谨伦, Pinyin: ''Yáng Jǐnlún''; born August 9, 1973) is an American cartoonist. He is a frequent lecturer on the subjects of graphic novels and comics, at comic book conventions a ...

Jill Thompson Jill Thompson (born November 20, 1966) is an American illustrator and writer who has worked for stage, film, and television. Well known for her work on Neil Gaiman's '' The Sandman'' characters and her own ''Scary Godmother'' series, she has wor ...

and

Damon Lindelof Damon Laurence Lindelof (born April 24, 1973) is an American screenwriter, comic book writer, and producer. Among his accolades, he received three Primetime Emmy Awards, from twelve nominations. In 2010, ''Time'' magazine named him one of the ...

Winners

References

External links

*Later from March 21, 2017.
Harvey Kurtzman Awards
1988–2007, Comic Book Awards Almanac
Archived
from the original on March 12, 2018. {{authority control Comics awards Harvey Kurtzman Awards established in 1988 1988 establishments in the United States

History

Categories

Current awards

Previous awards

Winners

See also

References

External links