SelfMadeHero And The Cartoon Museum Announce 30 Creators Longlisted For First Graphic Novel Awards

The next big thing? Could be on this list. SelfMadeHero and The Cartoon Museum whittle entries down to 30 for the First Graphic Novel Award.

News out this week that we now have a longlist for the First Graphic Novel Award, with SelfMadeHero, London’s Cartoon Museum, and award director Corrine Pearlman announcing the 30 creators on the list.

The longlist will be turned into a shortlist that gets announced at Thought Bubble on 10th November with the winner announced at Waterstones Piccadilly in London on 11th December.

This is the award previously known as the Myriad First Graphic Novel Competition. Myriad’s graphics list includes the four previous winners and six other books by shortlisted authors.

And just to give you an idea of the quality of works we’re looking at – the four previous winners were The previous competition winners – Gareth Brookes (The Black Project, 2012), Jade Sarson (For the Love of God, Marie!, 2014), Jenny Robins (Biscuits, 2018) and Veronika Muchitsch (Cyberman, 2022). All four of those winners are well worth your time and I have no doubts that there’s work that you’re going to absolutely adore in the longlist for this years’ prize.

The winner (or winners) will have the opportunity to have their first graphic novel published by SelfMadeHero. Entry was open to any UK residents who’ve not previously published a full-length graphic work.

The judges received 170 entries – a huge number this year – who had sent along 15-30 pages of work-in-progress graphic novels. Narrowing it down to 30 would have taken a hell of a lot of work. This years’ judges are Sabba Khan, author of graphic memoir The Roles We Play, shortlisted for this very prize in 2018, the contemporary artist Mark Wallinger, SelfMadeHero publisher Emma Hayley, Cartoon Museum Learning Officer Steve Marchant, editor and writer Ayoola Solarin, broadcast journalist Alex Fitch, and award director Corinne Pearlman.

“This year we received 170 entries, nearly 50% more than in previous years, which is an illustration of the huge number of comics creators seeking publication in a very restricted market. Many have been burning the midnight oil to prepare their entries and we are grateful to all of them for sharing such a high standard of work. We had enormous pleasure in reading all the submissions, but several readings and vibrant conversations later, we are all happy to celebrate these 30 works-in-progress.” – Award director Corinne Pearlman

Those longlisted authors will receive feedback from the judges and have their work reviewed by the Bks Agency, sponsors of the £500 prize for the winner. But the £500 is secondary really, it’s publication through SelfMadeHero is what most of the authors are eyeing up – although this being comics, the £500 will be rather nice as well.

Now, here’s the 29 names involved – yes, one artist got two on the long list… impressive in itself. They’re not all going to win but I can guarantee you that they’ve all got plenty of incredible work to take a look at. Go have a look at what they all do, follow them on socials, and buy their work.

The longlisted artists are: Glenn Hustler • Emma Pratt • Ying Ru-Chen • Anna-Maria Glover • Anna Trench • Christine Humphreys • Gareth Cowlin (two entries) • Robbie Brewster • Chris Halls • Eszter-Simavari • Cathy Brett • Mereida Fajardo • Myfanwy Tristram • Steven Thompson • Edie Woolf • Wallis Eates • Corban Wilkin • Hariet Titlow • Elena Blanco • Zoe Delautre Corral • Kelly Vassie • Jonah Walker • Lucy Maughan • Lizzie Mikietyn • Graham Johnstone • Leina Elgohari • Alexander Taylor • Charlotte Bailey • Chris King

For more information – www.firstgraphicnovel.co.uk but here’s a little look at the longlist…