02 Mar 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Inkwell Awards Overhauls Nomination Procedure

(New Bedford, MA/USA—Oct. 5, 2018) After 10 years, the Inkwell Awards, a non-profit organization devoted to public education and promotion of the art of comic-book inking, has changed its nomination procedure for its annual awards. For the first time, ink artists (“inkers”) are now invited to submit their work for consideration.

Previously, all award nominees in the Inkwells’ five categories were chosen exclusively by a volunteer Nomination Committee (“NomCom”), composed of various industry professionals, journalists, reviewers and supporters. This year, inkers (or their agents/publishers) may submit two to three pages of interior art from American comic books cover-dated 2018 for each category. Those will be evaluated by the NomCom, who will choose a minimum of two names and may also submit up to four of their own, per category. The Inkwells’ core committee will tally all results and choose the top names in each category for the final public ballot. Nominees for The Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame lifetime achievement award will continue to be chosen internally. The Inkwells’ core committee will remain ineligible to nominate, vote, submit work or be nominated for any inking award.

“We’ve had a lot of feedback over our previous decade,” said founder and director Bob Almond. “There were various concerns regarding popularity, visibility, requirements, and other things. We listened, and after much deliberation within our core committee, we worked it out and decided it was time to implement the change. Now it’s up to the inkers to send in their work.”

Those interested will have till December 31, 2018, to submit their work. Full details and instructions, including rules, are available on the advocacy’s website. Unlike some others, The Inkwell Awards will not charge a submission fee. “We want every ink artist to have their shot,” Almond said. 

Final nominees will be decided by spring of 2019 when voting will be open for the public. The winners will be announced at the Inkwells’ live awards ceremony in the summer.

The five categories of The Inkwell Awards are:
1) Favorite Inker: favorite ink artist over the pencil work of another artist.
2) Most-adaptable: showing exceptional ink style versatility over other pencil artists (minimum of two cited sources).
3) Props award: ink artist deserving of more attention for their work over other pencillers.
4) The S.P.A.M.I: for favorite Small Press And Mainstream-Independent, inking over another penciller (non-Marvel or DC work).
5) All-in-one award: for favorite artist known for inking his/ her own pencil work.

The Inkwell Awards is an official 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is to educate the public and promote the art form of comic-book inking. Entering its 11th year, the organization is overseen by a volunteer committee of industry professionals and assisted by various professional ambassadors, numerous contributors and supporters. They sponsor the Dave Simons Inkwell Memorial Scholarship Fund for the Kubert School and host the Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame Award. 

15 Dec 2014

As reported by Newsarama yesterday on August 24, 2018, Russ Heath has passed away after a battle with cancer. Russ had just received the lifetime achievement award, the Stacey Aragon Special Recognition Award, this past June 15 at the final live awards ceremony at Heroes Con. Bob Almond shared the following at his Facebook account timeline:

Sad way to start a day. My only memory to share regarding Russ Heath was fairly recent and, apparently now, during a serious decline in his health this year. Russ was living at home last January when we contacted his close friend Steven L. Wyatt (who unofficially acted as a handler for conventions) that he had won the Inkwell Awards’ Stacey Aragon Special Recognition Award. Russ was in a wheelchair but he wanted to attend Heroes Con to receive it and Steve hoped he could travel with him. Promoter Shelton Drum was ready to assist in any way for us to get him there. After some communication delays regarding travel plans I finally reached Steven in early April to sadly hear that Russ had to go to assisted living in Long Beach 140 miles away due to some mobility issues and would not be able to attend shows anymore. Communications were few and infrequent after that but we were able to ship the trophy to Steve and then waited for a follow-up. A pal of Steve’s, Pat McGreal, later contacted me saying that he lives near the home and Steve asked him if he could record on video Russ receiving the award. The recording was ultimately not used because Russ couldn’t think of anything to say and he was also dealing with hearing problems and confusion. So Pat captured a shot from the video to be used as a photo for the award ceremony slideshow by Inkwell contributor Ray Burke who was able to add it like 2 days from the event (shown below in comments). Much like Dick Giordano, Bernie Wrightson, Dick Ayers and Murphy Anderson before him, the Inkwell Awards were so relieved to be able to show appreciation for these masters’ works through a lifetime achievement award while they were still around to appreciate it. (Due to technical problems we weren’t able to add his name to our site yet so he wasn’t credited for our award on Wikipedia. That is being handled now.) Rest in peace, Russ!

The Inkwell Awards organization sends it’s sincere condolences to Russ’ family and loved ones.

09 Jan 2014

(New Bedford, MA/USA—June 17, 2018) The Inkwell Awards released the list of winners of its 11th annual awards for excellence in the art form of comic-book inking. Nominees were again chosen by a separate and independent nomination committee. This year featured the greatest number of nominees, including female inkers in three of the five categories. Voting by professionals and fans took place in April via live ballot at the non-profit advocacy’s website. One winner was chosen in each of five categories based on American interior comic-book work cover-dated 2017.

Separately, the Inkwells selected internally the two recipients of the annual Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame Award and one recipient for the Stacey Aragon Special Recognition Award (SASRA). Winners were contacted and many of the invited guests were present to receive their trophies during North Carolina’s HeroesCon, the host show for the Inkwells. Winners are listed with their nominated credits and the percentage of votes received, where applicable.

FAVORITE INKER: Scott Hanna (29.4%)
(Booster Gold/The Flintstones Special, DC Holiday Special, Justice League Of America, Legion of Super-Heroes/Bugs Bunny Special, Superman, Trinity [DC]; All-New Wolverine, Black Panther, Black Panther & The Crew, Great Lakes Avengers, Ultimates 2, X-men Blue [Marvel]).
Other nominees: Bill Sienkiewicz, Jonathan Glapion, John Dell, Mick Gray, John Floyd, Dan Green, Seth Mann.

MOST-ADAPTABLE INKER: Scott Hanna (30.9%)

(See above credits.) Other nominees: Walden Wong, Mark Morales, Jonathan Glapion, Dexter Vines, Jay Leisten.

PROPS AWARD (inker deserving of more attention): Joe Prado (37.8%)
(Justice League Of America: Rebirth, Green Lanterns, Superman [DC]).

Other nominees: Tony Kordos, Marc Deering, Michelle Delecki, Daniel Henriques, Jason Paz.

S.P.A.M.I. (Small Press and Mainstream Independent): Sal Buscema (25.1%) (ROM [IDW]).
Other nominees: Mark Morales, Stefano Gaudiano, Irene Flores, Rodney Ramos, Ryan Winn, Robin Riggs.

ALL-IN-ONE (pencilling and inking together): Liam Sharp (18.46%)

(Justice League, Wonder Woman [DC]).
Other nominees: Dan Panosian, David Marquez Stan Sakai, Joelle Jones, Terry Moore, Mitch Gerads, Mico Suayan.

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT:

THE STACEY ARAGON SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARD (SASRA): Russ Heath
Other nominees: John Byrne and Jim Sanders III.

THE JOE SINNOTT HALL OF FAME: Joe Giella and Bob McLeod

Other nominees: Dan Adkins, John Beatty, Mike Esposito, Mark Farmer, Al Gordon, Bob Layton, Pablo Marcos, Frank McLaughlin and Bernie Wrightson.

“I was thrilled to hear that two very fine inkers were selected for induction into the Inkwell Awards Hall of Fame for 2018,” said Joe Sinnott, the award’s namesake and first recipient. “Both Joe and Bob have previous ties to the Inkwells, Bob being the keynote speaker at their awards ceremony at HeroesCon in 2012, and Joe being the Guest of Honor at the 2017 ceremony. It is with great pride that we honor these two excellent ink artists into the Inkwell Awards family as 2018 recipients of the Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame Award. Congratulations, fellas, on jobs, and careers, well done!”

The live awards ceremony began with a special appearance by guest of honor and industry legend Mike Royer, who discussed the art form of comic-book inking, his career in the medium, and its artists. Inkwell Awards founder and director Bob Almond acted as ceremony host. He was joined by hostess and spokesmodel “Ms. Inkwell,” as portrayed by both Hailey Skaza-Gagne and 2011 spokesmodel Kathy Denise Taylor. Artist and Inkwell Contributor Dan Panosian presented the five main awards. Artist and Inkwell Ambassador Pat Broderick presented the Hall of Fame and SASRA awards.

In celebration of the non-profit’s 10th anniversary, Almond created the Above & Beyond Award for those organization members who have performed exceptionally (or others in the community who have made special efforts to advance the art form of inking). These went to:

Hailey Skaza-Gagne, the longest-running Ms. Inkwell spokesmodel, who has appeared at four straight Heroes conventions and attended 21 consecutive events, raised thousands of dollars in fundraising, all the while expanding her duties to include public speaking and moderating panels.

Robert Haines, the first person to serve on the nomination committee for 10 consecutive years since it began.

Mark Sinnott, who has been a Senior Inkwell Contributor for a decade, acting as the liaison between the Inkwells and his father, Joe. “Without Mark’s generosity and diligence,” Almond said, “there would certainly not be nearly as many achievements nor funds raised for the organization–successes which allowed us to reach 10 years of operations and altruism.”

Almond also awarded “Silver Inkwells” to three nomination committee members who participated in five years of service: Matt Herring, Tony Parker and Rik Offenberger.

Thanks to the following people for their generous cooperation: Stephen Wyatt, Jeffrey Harnett and Pat McGrealy.

Full acceptance statements from the winners can be found in the “Results” section of the Inkwell Awards’ website.