2026 Ignatz Award Winners Announced at Small Press Expo
2026 Ignatz Award Winners Announced at Small Press Expo
Carol Tyler, Lee Lai, Michael DeForge and Ronald Wimberly are among the winners of this year’s awards for independent comics and cartooning.
The winners of the 2026 Ignatz Awards have been announced following this year’s Small Press Expo in North Bethesda, Maryland.
Ten awards were presented across categories including graphic novels, comics, minicomics, anthologies and online work. The results include books from established independent publishers alongside several self-published titles.
The 2026 Ignatz winners
The ten winning works range from books issued by independent publishers to comics produced and published by the artists themselves.
LAAB: A Comics Anthology No. 3
Ronald Wimberly
Beehive Books
The Ephemerata: Shaping the Exquisite Nature of Grief
Carol Tyler
Fantagraphics
All the Cameras in My Room
Michael DeForge
Drawn & Quarterly
Zoo #5
Anand Shenoy
Self-Published
Cannon
Lee Lai
Drawn & Quarterly / Giramondo Publishing
Uncoiling: A Japanese-American Family History
Yoko O.K.
Self-Published
Blind Alley
Adam de Souza
Wedding Juice and Other Melodramas #2
Sanika Phawde
Self-Published
Drome
Jesse Lonergan
23rd Street
A Scientific Study Of Transsexuality
Oscar Woodiwiss
Fieldmouse Press
Lee Lai wins for Cannon
Lee Lai received the Outstanding Graphic Novel award for Cannon. Small Press Expo lists Drawn & Quarterly and Giramondo Publishing with the book.
Carol Tyler received Outstanding Artist for The Ephemerata: Shaping the Exquisite Nature of Grief. Michael DeForge won Outstanding Collection for All the Cameras in My Room, while Ronald Wimberly’s LAAB: A Comics Anthology No. 3 received Outstanding Anthology.
The Outstanding Comic award went to Anand Shenoy for the self-published Zoo #5. Yoko O.K. received Outstanding Minicomic for Uncoiling: A Japanese-American Family History, and Adam de Souza’s Blind Alley was named Outstanding Online Comic.
Sanika Phawde received Outstanding Series for Wedding Juice and Other Melodramas #2. Jesse Lonergan won Outstanding Story for Drome, while Oscar Woodiwiss received the Promising New Talent award for A Scientific Study Of Transsexuality.
About the Ignatz Awards
The Ignatz Awards take their name from Ignatz Mouse, the brick-throwing character in George Herriman’s Krazy Kat. The awards have been presented in connection with the Small Press Expo since 1997.
They recognise work in comics and cartooning across ten categories. Nominees are selected by a jury of comics professionals before the final voting stage.
The 2026 awards were presented during the Small Press Expo, held September 12–13 in North Bethesda, Maryland. The Ignatz Awards ceremony took place on Saturday evening, September 12.
