The Harvey Awards are given for achievement in comic books. 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 Gary Groth (born September 18, 1954) is an American comic book editor, publisher and critic. He is editor-in-chief of ''The Comics Journal'', a co-founder of Fantagraphics Books, and founder of the Harvey Awards. Early life Groth is the son of ...

in 1988, president of the publisher

Fantagraphics Fantagraphics (previously Fantagraphics Books) is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, manga, magazines, graphic novels, and the erotic Eros Comix imprint. History Founding Fantagraphics was founde ...

, to be the successor to the

Kirby Award 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. Sponsored ...

s 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 t ...

, and subsequently moving to the Dallas Fantasy Fair,

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

MoCCA Festival The MoCCA Arts Festival, or MoCCA Fest, is an independent comics showcase that typically includes artist booths, slide shows, and educational panels. It was created by the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art in 2002 by bringing together over 2,000 a ...

, the

Baltimore Comic-Con Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...

, 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 The ''Comics Buyer's Guide'' (''CBG'') magazine administered the annual Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Awards from 1982 to circa 2010, with the first awards announced in issue #500 (June 17, 1983). Upon taking over as ''CBG'' editors, Don and Maggie T ...

and the

Eagle Awards The Eagle Awards were a series of awards for comic book titles and creators. They were awarded by UK fans voting for work produced during the previous year. Named after the UK's ''Eagle'' comic, they were launched in 1977 for comics released in ...

, which were also voted on by fans). The new awards established several categories that were new from their predecessor the Kirby Awards, 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

, 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 esta ...

, and the

Eastern Region Comic Book Retailers Association Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways * Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air ...

(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 Dallas Fantasy Fair 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 Pittsburgh Comicon,Mervis, Scott (April 27, 2001). "Heroic comeback," ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette''. p. 22. with

Evan Dorkin Evan Dorkin (born April 20, 1965) is an American comics artist and cartoonist. His best known works are the comic books ''Milk and Cheese'' and ''Dork''. His comics often poke fun at fandom, even while making it clear that Dorkin is a fan himsel ...

serving as master of ceremonies. Jeff Smith was the keynote speaker of the 2000 awards.

Frank Miller Frank Miller (born January 27, 1957) is an American comic book writer, penciller and inker, novelist, screenwriter, film director, and producer known for his comic book stories and graphic novels such as his run on ''Daredevil'' and subsequen ...

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 Tony Millionaire (born Scott Richardson in 1956) is an American cartoonist, illustrator and author known for his syndicated comic strip '' Maakies'' and the '' Sock Monkey'' series of comics and picture books. He lives in Yarmouth, Maine at ...

gave the keynote speech at the 2002 awards ceremony. In 2003, due to a cancellation by scheduled keynote speaker Neil Gaiman, 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 The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MoCCA) is a not-for-profit arts organization and former museum in New York City devoted to comic books, comic strips and other forms of cartoon art. MoCCA sponsored events ranging from book openings to educat ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. In 2006 the awards' presentation was moved to

, 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 Mike Mignola (; born September 16, 1960) is an American comics artist and writer best known for creating ''Hellboy'' for Dark Horse Comics, part of a shared universe of titles including ''B.P.R.D.'', '' Abe Sapien'', '' Lobster Johnson'', '' Wit ...

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'', whi ...

. 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 Marie Severin (; August 21, 1929 – August 29, 2018) was an American comics artist and colorist best known for her work for Marvel Comics and the 1950s' EC Comics. She is an inductee of the Will Eisner Comics Hall of Fame and the Harvey Awards ...

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 Ben Oda (December 21, 1915 – November 1984) was a Japanese-American letterer for comic books and comic strips. He graduated from Chouinard Art Institute and began his career as an apprentice at Walt Disney Studios.''DC Profiles Number 56: Ben ...

, 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 d ...

'', 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 ...

’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, Neil Gaiman,

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