The Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing is an American award for excellence in

comic book 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 of ...

writing. The awards committee, chaired by

Mark Evanier Mark Stephen Evanier (; born March 2, 1952) is an American comic book and television writer, known for his work on the animated TV series ''Garfield and Friends'' and on the comic book ''Groo the Wanderer''. He is also known for his columns and bl ...

, is charged each year with selecting two recipients, one living and one deceased. In 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

there were six deceased honorees and no living ones (and makeup plans for two living recipients in 2021)."In a year where Comic-Con cannot take place, it seemed wrong to honor, as we usually do, one posthumous writer and one who is still with us," hairman MarkEvanier explained. "The one who is still with us would be denied the full honors of being brought to the convention and presented with the award onstage. Therefore, after much discussion, we decided to instead present no 'alive' award this year, and, assuming there is a convention in 2021, we will present two of those awards then. For 2020, we have selected six writers from the dozens who have been nominated to receive the posthumous award. Each of these six during their time in the industry produced a body of work that the judges deem worthy of more recognition and/or reward than it has received.
Six Posthumous Recipients to Receive 2020 Bill Finger Award
/ref> 2021 saw the same formula as the previous year, with six deceased recipients."Since we are not yet in a position to honor a writer who is still with us in a proper ceremony, we're going to a long list of comic book writers from the past who we feel did not receive sufficient recognition or reward for their contributions to the field. As with last year, we have selected six posthumous awards and no 'alive' award," hairman MarkEvanier explained. "Each of these six writers left us with a body of work that the judges deem worthy of this honor.
Six Posthumous Recipients to Receive 2021 Bill Finger Award
/ref> The award, along with the

Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books, sometimes referred to as the comics industry's equivalent of the Academy Awards. They are named in ...

s, is presented in July of each year at the annual

San Diego Comic-Con San Diego Comic-Con International is a comic book convention and nonprofit multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California since 1970. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International: San Diego; but it is co ...

. It was established by Bill Finger's colleague and fellow writer Jerry Robinson. Evanier in 2003 said the premise of the award was "to recognize writers for a body of work that has not received its rightful reward and/or recognition. That was what Jerry Robinson intended as his way of remembering his friend, Bill Finger. Bill is still kind of the industry poster boy for writers not receiving proper reward or recognition."

Recipients

*2005 – Jerry Siegel (deceased), Arnold Drake *2006 – Harvey Kurtzman (deceased), Alvin Schwartz *2007 – Gardner Fox (deceased),

George Gladir George Gladir (September 27, 1925 – April 3, 2013) was an American writer for comic books. Primarily known as a scripter for Archie Comics, he co-created that publisher's character Sabrina Spellman, with artist Dan DeCarlo. Biography George G ...

*2008 – Archie Goodwin (deceased), Larry Lieber *2009 – John Broome (deceased),

Frank Jacobs Franklin Jacobs (May 30, 1929 – April 5, 2021) was an American author of satires, known primarily for his work in '' Mad'', to which he contributed from 1957 to 2014. Jacobs wrote a wide variety of lampoons and spoof, but was best known as a ve ...

*2010 – Otto Binder (deceased), Gary Friedrich *2011 – Bob Haney (deceased), *2012 – Frank Doyle (deceased), Steve Skeates *2013 – Steve Gerber (deceased), Don Rosa *2014 – Robert Kanigher (deceased), Bill Mantlo,

Jack Mendelsohn Jack Mendelsohn (November 8, 1926 – January 25, 2017) was an American writer-artist who worked in animation, comic strips and comic books. An Emmy-nominated television comedy writer and story editor, he had numerous credits as a TV scripter, ...

*2015 –

Don McGregor Donald Francis McGregor (born June 15, 1945) is an American comic book writer best known for his work for Marvel Comics; he is the author of one of the first graphic novels. Early life Don McGregor was born in Providence, Rhode Island, where he w ...

, John Stanley (deceased) *2016 – Elliot S! Maggin,

Richard E. Hughes Richard E. Hughes (1909–1974) was an American writer and editor of comic books. He was editor of the American Comics Group through the company's entire existence from 1943 to 1967, and wrote most of that publisher's stories from 1957 to 1967 under ...

(deceased) *2017 –

William Messner-Loebs William Francis Messner-Loebs (; born William Francis Loebs, Jr., February 19, 1949) is an American comics artist and writer from Michigan, also known as Bill Loebs and Bill Messner-Loebs. His hyphenated surname is a combination of his and his wif ...

, Jack Kirby (deceased) *2018 – Joye Hummel Murchison Kelly, Dorothy Roubicek Woolfolk (deceased) *2019 –

Mike Friedrich Mike Friedrich (; born March 27, 1949) is an American comic book writer and publisher best known for his work at Marvel and DC Comics, and for publishing the anthology series ''Star*Reach'', one of the first independent comics. He is also an art ...

E. Nelson Bridwell Edward Nelson Bridwell (September 22, 1931 – January 23, 1987) was a writer for ''Mad (magazine), Mad'' magazine (writing the now-famous catchphrase, "What you mean...we?" in a 1958 parody of ''The Lone Ranger'' in Mad) and various comic books ...

(deceased) *2020 – Virginia Hubbell (deceased),

Nicola Cuti Nicola Cuti (October 29, 1944 – February 21, 2020), known as Nick Cuti, was an American artist and comic book writer-editor, science-fiction novelist; he was the co-creator of ''E-Man'' (with artist Joe Staton) and Moonchild, Captain Cosmos, a ...

(deceased),

Leo Dorfman Leo Dorfman (February 17, 1914 – July 9, 1974) (also credited as Geoff Brown and David George) was an American writer of comic books throughout the Silver Age. Although the majority of his work was for DC Comics, he also wrote for Dell Comics a ...

(deceased), Gaylord DuBois (deceased), Joe Gill (deceased),

France Herron Francis Edward Herron (July 23, 1917 – September 2, 1966) was an Americans, American comic book writer and editor active in the 1940s–1960s, mainly for DC Comics. He is credited with co-creating Captain Marvel Jr. and the Red Skull, as well a ...

(deceased) *2021 - Robert Bernstein (deceased), Audrey "Toni" Blum (deceased),

Vic Lockman Vic Lockman ( October 19, 1927 – June 1, 2017) was an American Christian cartoonist and comic strip writer. He started cartooning from a young age, taught by his father. He was once head of the art department for the School of Aviation Medic ...

(deceased),

Robert Morales Robert Morales (1958 - 2013) was an American comic book writer, editor, and journalist known for creating '' Truth: Red, White & Black'', which featured his original character Isaiah Bradley. In addition to creating comics for Marvel Comics, Mora ...

(deceased),

Paul S. Newman Paul S. Newman (April 29, 1924 – May 30, 1999) was an American writer of comic books, comic strips, and books, whose career spanned the 1940s to the 1990s. Credited in the '' Guinness Book of World Records'' as the most prolific comic-book wr ...

(deceased), Robert "Bob" White (deceased) *2022 –

Bob Bolling Bob Bolling (born June 9, 1928)Comic-Book Superstars, by Don & Maggie Thompson (Krause Publications, Iola, Wis., 1993) is an American cartoonist best known for his work in Archie Comics. He created the company's popular spin-off title ''Little A ...

Don Rico Donato Francisco Rico II (September 26, 1912 – March 27, 1985) was an American paperback novelist, screenwriter, wood engraver and comic book writer-artist, who co-created the Marvel Comics characters the Black Widow (Natasha Romanova) with plot ...

(deceased)

References

Comics awards * Awards established in 2005 {{comics-stub