SPX ‘26: The 2026 Ignatz Awards nominees announced

It's that time of year again. The one all indie creators look forward to: the announcement of the 2026 Ignatz Awards nominees, via the Small Press Expo website. Once again, this year's list of nominees reads like a syllabus on the who's who of the indie comics scene. This year's slate includes substantial graphic novels, such as the work of Ben Passmore and Melissa Mendes; scrappy self-published minicomics; anthologies built around marginalized voices; and webcomics competing right alongside print. 

Named after George Herriman's brick-throwing mouse from the classic strip Krazy Kat, an  Ignatz Award is SPX's festival prize, recognizing outstanding achievement in comics and cartooning since 1997. Rather than rewarding mainstream commercial success, the award honors "exceptional work that challenges popular notions of what comics can achieve, both as an art form and as a means of personal expression," according to the convention's website.

While a panel of eight jurors—Maria Hoey, Maggie McCready, Vik Alexander, Meg Lentz, Michael Albrecht, Sofia Lesage, Joel Christian Gill, and Nick Bertozzi—selects the nominees before handing the ballot over to the public, they don’t get the final say on the winners. Voted on by fans, retailers, and creators with a passion for indie and small press comics (though self-selection is at play for the people who choose to vote), winners are chosen across eleven categories by voters who submit the email-only ballot forms.

Recipients will be revealed at the annual Ignatz Awards Ceremony, which, since the award's inception in 1997, has traditionally been held Saturday evening during SPX. This year is no different: the ceremony will take place on Saturday, September 12, 2026, at 9:30 PM EST in the White Oak Room of the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel and Conference Center, with voting closing at 8:00 PM EST on Friday, September 11.

Below is the full rundown of nominees across all categories. You can find additional information about the 2026 nominees here.

OUTSTANDING ARTIST

• Colin Lidston, Move-In Day (Paper Rocket Minicomics)

• Ben Passmore, Black Arms To Hold You Up (Pantheon Books)

• J. Marshall Smith, Testament (Bulgilhan Press)

• Carol Tyler, The Ephemerata: Shaping the Exquisite Nature of Grief (Fantagraphics)

• Rob Woods, Barbecue Block Party (Self-Published)

 

OUTSTANDING ANTHOLOGY

• A Queer Prisoner's Anthology Vol. 9: Beautiful Regrets ed. Casper Cendre, Oliver Mills, Brett Thomas Gonzalez (A.B.O. Comix)

• Goof #2 ed. Marc Jackson (Self-Published)

• LAAB: A Comics Anthology No. 3 ed. Ronald Wimberly (Beehive Books)

• Revenge #2 ed. Samandal (Beehive Books)

• So Buttons #15 ed. Jonathan Baylis (So Buttons Comix)

OUTSTANDING COLLECTION

• A Strong Woman and Other Stories by Valentine Gallardo (Fieldmouse Press)

• All the Cameras in My Room by Michael DeForge (Drawn & Quarterly)

• Box Garden Beetle by Akino Kondoh (Glacier Bay Books)

• The Past is a Grotesque Animal by Tommi Parrish (Fantagraphics)

• Wisps by Amanda Baeza (kuš!)

OUTSTANDING COMIC

• Antimatter #1 by Dean Haspiel (Self-Published)

• Fizzle #6 by Whit Taylor (Radiator Comics)

• Girls Gone Wild by Katie Lane (2dcloud)

• Utzy and Dusty by Josh Bayer (Domino Books)

• Zoo #5 by Anand Shenoy (Self-Published)

OUTSTANDING GRAPHIC NOVEL

• Black Arms to Hold You Up by Ben Passmore (Pantheon Books)

• Cannon by Lee Lai (Giramondo Publishing)

• Do Admit! The Mitford Sisters and Me by Mimi Pond (Drawn & Quarterly)

• More Weight: A Salem Story by Ben Wickey (Top Shelf Productions)

• The Weight by Melissa Mendes (Drawn & Quarterly)

OUTSTANDING MINICOMIC

• If She Was Beholden, Could She Ever Be the Beholder? by Erika Rier (Self-Published)

• Secret Black Woman: American Virtues by Ingrid Pierre (Self-Published)

• To Bleed Stone Dry by R. D. "Reyookah" Yoon (Self-Published)

• Two Snakes by Suerynn Lee (Alright Editions)

• Uncoiling: A Japanese-American Family History by Yoko O.K. (Self-Published)

OUTSTANDING ONLINE COMIC

• Anywhere but Barbun by Sinan Demirer

• Appleguy & Beefwood by Cedar Van Tassel

• Blind Alley by Adam de Souza

• I Thought I Heard Your Voice Just Then by Hagai Palevsky and Justin LaGuff

• Island by Lucy Haslam

OUTSTANDING SERIES

• Coin-Op no 10: Wet Cement by Peter and Maria Hoey (Coin-Op Books)

• Fizzle #6 by Whit Taylor (Radiator Comics)

• Hacienda by Dave Ortega (Self-Published)

• My Pockets are Juicy! by Lonnie Milsap (Self-Published)

• Wedding Juice and Other Melodramas by Sanika Phawde (Self-Published)

OUTSTANDING STORY

• Before We Wake by Sophia Glock (Little, Brown Ink)

• Drome by Jesse Lonergan (23rd Street)

• Mudhouse by Glynnis Fawkes (Paper Rocket Minicomics)

• Suicidals by Michael R. Barton (Self-Published)

• While We Wait by Sorina Vazelina (Self-Published)

PROMISING NEW TALENT

• A Scientific Study Of Transsexuality by Oscar Woodiwiss (Fieldmouse Press)

• Creamthing In His Golden Year by Sam Hensley (Self-Published)

• Electric Cowboy by Ansel Kite (Silver Sprocket)

• The Witch's Egg by Donya Todd (Avery Hill Publishing)

• Upwards Incursion by Padraig Campbell (Driftwood Press)

Congratulations to all the nominees! If you wish to vote for the Ignatz Awards and are not on the SPX email lists, sign up for a ballot and get added to the SPX email lists.