2026 WINNERS

Judging Panel: KC Green, Aydin Kwan, and Luke Pearson.

Entries: 687

WINNERS

FICTION: Island by Lucy Haslam

NON-FICTION: Nino by Athena Naylor

FANTASY: To Bleed Stone Dry by R.D. Yoon

HUMOR: Dr. Waffles by Steve Steiner

HORROR: Thick & Lush by Bhanu Pratap

ROMANCE: In the Eyes of a Dog by Pearl Law

SCI-FI: Pinned, Writhing by Jean Doran

Watch the livestream of the awards ceremony here! The awards ceremony was hosted by Mary Shyne with thumbnail art by Kyle Tornby, during the Nib and Ink Festival.

The 2026 Awards had 34 sponsors, including: Nohumanza, David Brothers, Brendan Albetski, Victoria Ying, The Comics Courier, nozmo, KM, Staritale, Marnie Galloway, Azam Raharjo, Ro Higashi, PSG, Val Pendergast, KageTy, JJ Mack, Steve Lieber, Mudavaye, Sara McC-B, zakHARTONG, EMWill, NovaTaleART, VictoriaYing, mars, Filthy Figments, SpiderForest Webcomic Collective, Comix.one, Cosmic Lion Manga Dept, Diskette Press, Xomik Büks, SLICE, Bibby: Breakfast, King of Sorts, Ride or Die and other anonymous donors.

FICTION:

  • Welcome to the Internet, Transvestite by R. D. Yoon
  • Jersey by Skiles Roberts-Salvador 
  • Island by Lucy Haslam

NONFICTION:

  • Nino by Athena Naylor
  • snow by Shao Ni
  • Krunk #8 by George Tautkus

FANTASY:

  • The Eddystone Light by Eleri Extence
  • To Bleed Stone Dry by R.D. Yoon
  • Catherine WHEEL by George Bierly

HUMOR:

  • If You Have a Wok, You Have Everything! By Mici Gaal
  • Where’s My Pookie!?! by Jojo Oekaki
  • Dr. Waffles by Steve Steiner

HORROR:

  • Sheep by Teegan Bishop
  • Can You Find Alissa May? by Tyler Solomon
  • Thick & Lush by Bhanu Pratap

ROMANCE:

  • In the Eyes of a Dog by Pearl Law
  • We were just playing pretend by Linda Liu
  • Turbo Softik by Tusya Shirkova

SCI-FI:

  • This Used to Be Our Room by BreadComics
  • A Scientific Study of Transsexuality by Oscar Woodiwiss
  • Pinned, Writhing by Jean Doran

IMPORTANT DEADLINES

Open: January 1st 12:01 am ET
Close: January 31st 11:59 pm ET
Finalist Contact: Mid to Late April
Awards Ceremony: May 30th 8pm ET