The nominees for the 2019 Harvey Awards were announced August 14, 2019.
The Harvey Awards, one of the longest-running annual honors in the American comic book industry, just announced the nominees for the best work of the year in six categories. The list reflects the increasing diversity of content, styles, and creators that are making graphic literature a top seller in the trade book market.
This year's ten nominees for Book of the Year exemplify this diversity. The list includes ambitious literary fiction like Jason Lutes' Berlin (Drawn & Quarterly); representational speculative fiction like Tillie Walden's On a Sunbeam (First Second), Ezra Claytan Daniels' Upgrade Soul (Lion Forge) and Daniels' and Ben Passmore's BTTM FDRS (Fantagraphics); Lucy Knisley's motherhood memoir Kid Gloves (First Second) and hardboiled thriller My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (Image), among others. Including such a wide range of books with such distinct audiences and objectives on the list will make a hard choice for voters, but having a wealth of quality nominees is a good problem for any award to have.
The Harveys, named for humorist and cartoonist Harvey Kurtzman (creator of MAD among many other contributions to the art form), have recognized outstanding work in the field since the late 1980s, but were reorganized in 2016 in conjunction with the relocation of the awards ceremony to New York Comic Con.
The new streamlined Harveys feature six awards: Book of the Year, Digital Book of the Year, Best Children's or Young Adult Book, Best Manga, Best European Book, and Best Comics Adaptation. This last category is a catch-all for movies (Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse, etc.), streaming shows (Doom Patrol, The Boys, etc.) and even a theatrical play (The Snagglepuss Chronicles, a production by Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival and Die-Cast, based on Exit, Stage Left!: The Snagglepuss Chronicles, Mark Russell's poignant and unexpected take on the classic Hanna-Barbara character published by DC).
“This year marks the 31st presentation of the Harvey Awards and the third year working with our hosting partners at ReedPOP. We congratulate this year’s nominees, who have produced some of the best projects in the industry over the past year, and we’re looking forward to seeing the results of the voting and honoring the winners at the Harveys at NYCC,” said John Lind, co-chair of the Harvey Awards Steering Committee.
“We’re seeing incredible work come from not just traditional comic publishers but from digital publishers as well by a hugely diverse group of creators across nearly every genre,” said Mike Armstrong, Vice President of ReedPOP, the division of Reed Exhibitions that puts on New York Comic Con and more than two dozen other major pop culture conventions worldwide. “I wish all of our wonderful nominees the best of luck and look forward to celebrating them at this year’s awards ceremony during New York Comic Con.”
Eligible industry professionals have until September 10 to vote for their favorites in each category. The winners will be announced at the invitation-only Harvey Awards Gala October 4 in New York.
Nominees for the 2019 Harvey Awards:
Book of the Year
- Belonging: A German Reckons with History and Home by Nora Krug (Scribner)
- Berlin by Jason Lutes (Drawn & Quarterly)
- BTTM FDRS by Ezra Claytan Daniels and Ben Passmore (Fantagraphics)
- Hey Kiddo by Jarrett J. Krosoczka (Scholastic Graphix)
- Kid Gloves by Lucy Knisley (First Second)
- Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me by Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O’Connell (First Second)
- My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (Image)
- On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden (First Second)
- Upgrade Soul by Ezra Claytan Daniels (Lion Forge)
- When I Arrived at the Castle by Emily Carroll (Koyama Press)
Digital Book of the Year
- Check, Please by Ngozi Ukazu: www.checkpleasecomic.com
- Space Boy by Stephen McCranie: www.webtoons.com/en/drama/space-boy/list?title_no=400&page=1
- The Contradictions by Sophie Yanow: www.thecontradictions.com
- The Nib edited by Matt Bors: www.thenib.com
- Woman World by Aminder Dhaliwal: www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/woman-world/list?title_no=100912&page=1
Best Children’s or Young Adult Book
- Hey Kiddo by Jarrett J. Krosoczka (Scholastic Graphix)
- Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me by Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O’Connell (First Second)
- Mr. Wolf's Class #2: Mystery Club by Aron Nels Steinke (Scholastic Graphix)
- New Kid by Jerry Craft (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
- On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden (First Second)
Best Manga
- Frankenstein: Junji Ito Story Collection by Junji Ito (VIZ Media)
- Mob Psycho 100 by ONE (Dark Horse Manga)
- My Hero Academia by Kohei Horikoshi (VIZ Media)
- Our Dreams at Dusk by Yuhki Kamatani (Seven Seas)
- Smashed by Junji Ito (VIZ Media)
- Witch Hat Atelier by Kamome Shirahama (Kodansha Comics)
Best European Book
- Corto Maltese by Hugo Pratt (IDW Publishing)
- O Josephine by Jason (Fantagraphics)
- Radiant by Tony Valente (VIZ Media)
- Red Ultramarine by Manuele Fior, translated by Jamie Richards (Fantagraphics)
- Waves by Ingrid Chabbert and Carole Maurel (Archaia)
Best Comics Adaptation Award
- Alita: Battle Angel, by 20th Century Fox, based on Battle Angel Alita (Kodansha USA)
- Avengers: Endgame by Marvel Studios, based on The Avengers (Marvel Comics)
- The Boys by Amazon Studios, based on The Boys (Dynamite Entertainment)
- Captain Marvel by Marvel Studios, based on Captain Marvel (Marvel Comics)
- Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, by Netflix, based on Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (Archie Comics)
- Doom Patrol by DC Universe, based on Doom Patrol (DC Comics)
- Marvel's Spider-Man by Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive, based on Spider-Man (Marvel Comics)
- The Snagglepuss Chronicles, by Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival and Die-Cast, based on Exit, Stage Left!: The Snagglepuss Chronicles (DC Comics)
- Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse by Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation, based on Spider-Man (Marvel Comics)
- The Umbrella Academy by Netflix, based on The Umbrella Academy (Dark Horse Comics)
