The Ledger Awards


The Ledger Awards are prizes awarded to "acknowledge excellence in Australian comic art and publishing." Named after pioneering Australian cartoonist Peter Ledger, the awards were first held in 2005 to help promote and focus attention on Australian creators and their projects, both in Australia and overseas. Initially, the awards were held annually and announced online on or around Australia Day, 26 January. In recent years, they have been held at the State Library of Victoria on the Friday evening before the Melbourne Supanova convention.

History

The Ledger Awards began in 2004 as a fully independent, non-profit initiative. They were presented under the auspices of LitterArtsy, a non-profit coalition of creators, publishers and web sites promoting literacy, creativity, craft and excellence through comics and sequential art, and had no affiliations or links with organisations, businesses, or other parties.
The Ledger Awards were presented annually until 2007, when they went on hiatus. In 2010 it was announced that a new Ledger Awards Organising Committee had been formed; the Committee held an inaugural meeting, with a view to the awards being re-established in 2011.
In late 2013 it was announced that the Ledger Awards would return after a five-year hiatus in April 2014, with a new major sponsor, Supanova Pop Culture Expo. The 2014 Ledger Awards ceremony was held 11 April 2014, at the State Library of Victoria.
On 12 April 2014 the Ledger Awards named "gap year" award recipients for the years 2008–2013 when no Ledger Awards were distributed.

Awards

2004

Nominees were suggested through a forum thread, compiled into a poll and winners were decided by popular vote. The winners were announced on Australia Day, 2005.
The nominees and winners in the first year were
PERSON OF THE YEAR
  • Mark Selan
  • Aaron Burgess
  • Daniel Zachariou
ACHIEVEMENT OF THE YEAR
  • Gary Chaloner's John Law in print
  • Dillon Naylor's 2004
  • Phase Two Comics
NEW TALENT DESERVING WIDER RECOGNITION
  • Matt Huynh
  • Jase Harper
  • Chelsea Fritzlaff
SMALL PRESS TITLE OF THE YEAR
  • Eat Comics, Tonia Walden, editor
  • Sporadic, Jase Harper & Jules Faber, editors
  • Dirty Little Creep, Mandy Ord
INDEPENDENT PRESS TITLE OF THE YEAR
  • The Crumpleton Experiments, Nautilus Illustrations
  • Killeroo, Ozone Studios
  • Azerath, Creatorline/Phosphorescent Comics
INTERNATIONAL TITLE OF THE YEAR
ANTHOLOGY OF THE YEAR
  • Eat Comics, Tonia Walden, editor
  • Sporadic, Jase Harper & Jules Faber, editors
  • The Ink, Aaron Burgess, editor
WEBCOMIC OF THE YEAR
  • Platinum Grit
  • Will Eisner's John Law
  • Raymondo Person
WRITER OF THE YEAR
  • Trudy Cooper et al.
  • Christian Read
  • Daniel Reed
ARTIST OF THE YEAR
  • Trudy Cooper
  • Jason Badower
  • Jase Harper
INKER OF THE YEAR
  • Gary Chaloner
  • Doug Holgate
  • Darren Close
  • Daniel Reed
COLOURIST OF THE YEAR
  • Annette Kwok
  • Doug Holgate
  • Jason Badower
LETTERER OF THE YEAR
  • Gary Chaloner
  • Jason Paulos
  • Jason Kovacs
COVER ARTIST OF THE YEAR
  • Gary Chaloner, Will Eisner's John Law: Dead Man Walking
  • Matt Huynh, Domino Joe, Bloom
  • Jason Badower, Killeroo Book 2
SINGLE ISSUE OR STORY OF THE YEAR
  • 'Law, Luck and a Dead Eyed Mystic', Gary Chaloner
  • The Eldritch Kid #1, Christian Read & Christopher Burns
  • 'Meat Burger Heaven', Dean Rankine
  • 'Good for the Goose', Jan Napiorkowski & Jason Badower
COMIC STRIP OF THE YEAR
RETAIL OUTLET OF THE YEAR
  • Kings Comics, Sydney
  • Phase Two Comics, online
  • Minotaur Books, Melbourne
DESIGN OR PRESENTATION OF THE YEAR
  • The Watch: Casus Belli, design by Karen Howard
  • Killeroo Book Two, design by Darren Close
  • Keychain Comics, design by Aaron Burgess
LEDGER OF HONOUR
  • Peter Ledger*
  • Gary Chaloner
  • Trudy Cooper
  • Tim McEwen
  • Tonia Walden

    2005

Feedback from the first Awards resulted in a reduction in categories and the installation of a Judges Panel. Again, nominations were made by the public through postings on a message board forum. Some categories were decided by public vote, others were judged by the panel.
The first iteration of the Judges Panel was Mark Selan, Denis Kitchen, Roger Langridge, Glen Lumsden and Kevin Patrick. Denis Kitchen pulled out and was replaced with Mark Waid, Waid was then replaced by RC Harvey. Both Langridge and Harvey were replaced by Tad Pietrzykowski and Gary Chaloner.
The popular voted winners were announced on Australia Day 2006.

Publicly voted categories

ACHIEVEMENT OF THE YEAR
  • GOLD: Operation Funnybone
  • SILVER: OzComics 24 Hour Comics Challenge
  • BRONZE: Pulp Faction Forums
TALENT DESERVING WIDER RECOGNITION
RETAIL OUTLET OF THE YEAR
  • GOLD: Phase Two Comics, online
  • SILVER: Kings Comics, Sydney
  • BRONZE: Minotaur Books, Melbourne
FAVOURITE FOREIGN COMIC BOOK OR GRAPHIC NOVEL OF THE YEAR
FAVOURITE FOREIGN CREATOR OF THE YEAR
The Judges Awards were announced at Doujicon on 28 July 2006
SMALL PRESS TITLE OF THE YEAR
  • GOLD: Happy Birthday Anyway – Matt Huynh
  • SILVER: Pirates – Tonia Walden
  • BRONZE: Dreams of Tomorrow – Liz Argall
INDEPENDENT PRESS TITLE OF THE YEAR
  • GOLD: Eldritch Kid by Christian Read & Christopher Burns, Phosphorescent Comics/Creatorline
  • SILVER: Platinum Grit by Trudy Cooper, Doug Bayne and Danny Murphy
  • BRONZE: The Crumpleton Experiments by Daniel Reed, Nautilus Illustrations
INTERNATIONAL TITLE OF THE YEAR
WEBCOMIC OR COMIC OF THE YEAR
  • GOLD: Big Fun Mega Happy Pet Land by Jase Harper
  • SILVER: Magellan by Stephen Crowley
  • BRONZE: Raymondo Person by Patrick Alexander
WRITER OF THE YEAR
  • GOLD: Trudy Cooper
  • SILVER: Christian Read
  • BRONZE: Matt Huynh
ARTIST OF THE YEAR
  • GOLD: Doug Holgate
  • SILVER: Trudy Cooper
  • BRONZE: Matt Huynh
SINGLE ISSUE OR STORY OF THE YEAR
  • GOLD: "Laika" by Doug Holgate,
  • SILVER: "The Record" by Christian Read & Tonia Walden,
  • BRONZE: Star Wars Tales No. 27, illustrated by Nicola Scott
PRODUCTION DESIGN OF THE YEAR
  • GOLD: Glen Shearer and Darren Close, Operation Funnybone
  • SILVER: Troy Kealley, Something Wicked
  • BRONZE: Tonia Walden, Pirates, various
LEDGER OF HONOUR
The nominees for work published in the 2006 calendar year, and to be presented in 2007 are as follows:

Publicly voted categories

ACHIEVEMENT OF THE YEAR
RETAIL OUTLET OF THE YEAR
FAVOURITE FOREIGN COMIC BOOK OR GRAPHIC NOVEL OF THE YEAR
FAVOURITE FOREIGN CREATOR OF THE YEAR
LEDGER OF HONOUR
  • Greg Gates
  • Dillon Naylor
  • Jason Paulos

    Jury selection

The following categories will be decided by the judging panel from the top nominations listed:
AUSTRALIAN TITLE OF THE YEAR
  • Surfing the Deathline, Matt Godden,
  • Passionate Nomads, Philip Bentley and various
  • Azerath by Daniel Lawson and Ryan Wilton, Phosphorescent Comics/Creatorline
INTERNATIONAL TITLE OF THE YEAR
WEBCOMIC OR COMIC STRIP OF THE YEAR
WRITER OF THE YEAR
  • Philip Bentley
  • Graeme McDonald
ARTIST OF THE YEAR
  • Trudy Cooper
  • Colin Wells
  • David Yardin
SINGLE ISSUE OR STORY OF THE YEAR
  • "The Amorous Adventures of Jane Digby", Philip Bentley and various, Passionate Nomads
  • "Surfing the Deathline, Episode 1" by Matt Godden, Surfing the Deathline No. 1
  • "Crab Allan: Gothic Boogaloo" by Luke Weber, Sureshot Presents...
PRODUCTION DESIGN OF THE YEAR
  • Darrel Merritt, Passionate Nomads
  • , Surfing the Deathline
  • David Cunning, Local Act Comics

    2007

The nominees and winners for 2007 were:
AUSTRALIAN TITLE OF THE YEAR
  • "Passionate Nomads" – Philip Bentley and various
  • "Surfing the Deathline" – Matt Godden,
  • "Azerath" – Daniel Lawson and Ryan Wilton, Phosphorescent Comics/Creatorline
INTERNATIONAL TITLE OF THE YEAR
WEBCOMIC OR COMIC STRIP OF THE YEAR
  • "Platinum Grit" – Trudy Cooper/Danny Murphy
  • "Maxwell – Demon" by Tonia Walden
  • "Comicsface" – Ive Sorocuk
WRITER OF THE YEAR
  • Philip Bentley
  • Graeme McDonald
ARTIST OF THE YEAR
  • Trudy Cooper
  • David Yardin
SINGLE ISSUE OR STORY OF THE YEAR
  • "The Amorous Adventures of Jane Digby", Philip Bentley and various, Passionate Nomads
  • "Surfing the Deathline, Episode 1" by Matt Godden, Surfing the Deathline No. 1
  • "Crab Allan: Gothic Boogaloo" by Luke Weber, Sureshot Presents...
PRODUCTION DESIGN OF THE YEAR
  • Darrel Merritt
  • David Cunning
ACHIEVEMENT OF THE YEAR
  • Doujicon
  • 24 Hour Comics Challenge
  • Heroes and Villains Exhibition
RETAIL OUTLET OF THE YEAR
  • Kings Comics, Sydney
  • Phase Two Comics, Pulp Fiction
  • Minotaur Books, Melbourne
FAVOURITE FOREIGN COMIC BOOK OR GRAPHIC NOVEL OF THE YEAR
FAVOURITE FOREIGN CREATOR OF THE YEAR
LEDGER OF HONOUR.
  • Greg Gates