Jury announced for 2018 RINGO AWARDS, nominations open

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND - March 31, 2018 - The Mike Wieringo Comic Book Industry Awards (http://ringoawards.com) is an annual celebration of the creativity, skill, and fun of comics. The awards will be presented on Saturday, September 29, 2018 as part of the fan- and pro-favorite convention, The Baltimore Comic-Con.(http://baltimorecomiccon.com) The Ringo Awards is currently in the midst of the 2018 nomination process, which is inclusive of fans and comic book professionals alike. Please submit your nominations before voting closes at midnight on May 30, 2018 here:  https://ringoawards.polldaddy.com/s/ringo-awards-2017-nomination-categories

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The Jury   An esteemed jury of comics professionals will participate in the nomination process, selecting favorite works in over 20 categories. The 2018 jury was chosen as a representative cross-section of the comic book industry, with members representing seasoned and venerated educators, retailers, press, and creators across numerous genres.

Michael Cavna is a cartoonist and creator of The Washington Post's Eisner-nominated Comic Riffs column. He is also emcee and co-programmer of the Graphic Novel Pavilion events at the Library of Congress's annual National Book Festival. In 2017, Cavna's work was honored by the National Headliner Awards and the national Society for Features Journalism. A San Francisco native and UCSD alum, Cavna also wrote the Harvey Award-nominated prose for the Eisner Award-nominated anthology book Team Cul de Sac: Cartoonists Draw the Line at Parkinson's. His viral "Wise Up" cartoon launched the #Draw4Atena campaign on behalf of the jailed Iranian artist-activist Atena Farghadani, and his updated-monthly cartoon marked the 545-day detention of American-Iranian journalist Jason Rezaian. Those cartoon campaigns were cited by the National Press Club, the Poynter Institute and the Cartoonist Rights Network International. Cavna has created artwork and features for five syndicates, including Universal Uclick/Andrews McMeel.  Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz once told Cavna at a black-tie awards dinner: "You do funny things"; to this day, he does not know for sure whether Schulz was referring to Cavna's syndicated comic Warped or to his tragically askew cummerbund.

Marty Grosser is the Editor of Diamond Comic Distributors' PREVIEWS catalog, and has been involved with the publication since its inception in October of 1988. Before that, he started in the comics industry in the summer of 1981 as a counterman and Assistant Manager for Northern California's Comics & Comix retail chain. In 1986, he left C&C for comics distributor, Bud Plant, Inc., where he worked in the Customer Service department before becoming the writer of BUD PLANT'S QUICKLIST (the catalog precursor to PREVIEWS) in 1987. This position eventually lead to his move to Maryland in 1988 following the purchase of BPI's West Coast distribution network by Diamond Comic Distributors.

Karla Marsh-Southern is the Event and Exhibitor Coordinator for Heroes Aren't Hard to Find and the Heroes Convention located in Charlotte, NC. She has served the Heroes Convention for over 14 years, and has done so in a full-time capacity for the past six. She began attending the Heroes Convention 13 days before her actual birth in June of 1982 when her mother agreed to accompany her brother to Charlotte's first "Comic Book Convention". She has attended every Heroes Convention since, with this year's show marking her 36th consecutive Heroes Convention. Learning to read using Wonder Woman and Batman comics in the early 1980's, Karla is an avid reader of series from across all genres. She is also a life-long fan of all things Masters of the Universeand has assisted in the management of the He-Man and She-Ra-themed Convention, Power-Con based out of Los Angeles, CA.

Rob Stull is an accomplished illustrator, curator, teacher, penciler, inker, designer, and creator of comic books. In addition to working through his own studio, Ink on Paper, he has worked over two decades for every major publisher in the industry, including Marvel and DC Comics, where his projects include: Spider-Man Adventures, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Iron Man, X-Force, Wolverine, Nightwing, 52, Firestorm, and more. He was a member of the original Tellos creative team with Todd Dezago, Mike Wieringo, and Paul Mounts, and inked Mike's pencils on the initial series run published by Image Comics. He also inked the covers for the Mike Wieringo Tellos Tribute books and drew a chapter in Volume 1. He created and curated Sequential Art: The Next Step, a 10-year traveling exhibition spotlighting the work of African American comic book artists and their contributions to the industry and popular culture, and his work has been exhibited in galleries throughout the United States. He is featured in the ground-breaking books Black Comix: African American Independent Comics, Art and Culture and The History of American Graffiti. "I have always believed that all art is relative," says Stull. "Sequential Art is a storytelling medium, but most visual art is telling a story of some kind."

Gus Vazquez is an illustrator who has worked in nearly every field, including comic books, trading cards, storyboarding for music videos, commercials, animation and film, logo design, character and toy design, and more. He started his career in comic books working as an assistant to comic book artists Adam Pollina on X-Force, and Kevin McGuire on Trinity Angels. He got his first solo gig at Marvel Comics drawing the covers and interiors for Sunfire and Big Hero 6, the series that introduced the characters featured in Disney's Oscar winning Big Hero 6. He has worked on such Marvel titles as Deadpool, X-Force, Spider-Man, What If? Civil War, What If? Back in Black, The Official Handbook if the Marvel Universe, and more. For DC, he has worked on such titles as Green Lantern, JLA, Blue Beetle, and most recently on Flash, Suicide Squad, and Green Arrow. Gus was the artist on several issues of Claudio Sanchez's (of rock music group Coheed and Cambria) The Amory Wars, and was instrumental in helping bring together the creative team of his friends, David Atchison (writer) and Tony Shasteen (illustrator), and his niece, film and TV actress Rosario Dawson on 12 Gauge's The O.C.T. Currently, Gus has been working for DC Comics on The Sasquatch Detective, a backup story which can be found in the pages of Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles, as well as DMC (Daryl Makes Comics) and on La Borinqueña. He is also working on his creator-owned book, Fang.

Fan and Pro Nomination Categories * Best Cartoonist (Writer/Artist) * Best Writer * Best Artist or Penciller * Best Inker * Best Letterer * Best Colorist * Best Cover Artist * Best Series * Best Single Issue or Story * Best Original Graphic Novel * Best Anthology * Best Humor Comic * Best Comic Strip or Panel * Best Webcomic * Best Non-fiction Comic Work * Best Kids Comic or Graphic Novel * Best Presentation in Design

Jury-Only Nomination (with four bonus jurors) * The Mike Wieringo Spirit Award

Fan-Only Favorite Categories * Favorite Hero * Favorite Villain * Favorite New Series * Favorite New Talent * Favorite Publisher

Hero Initiative Award (selected by the Hero Initiative) * The Hero Initiative Lifetime Achievement Award * The Dick Giordano Humanitarian Award

"We are always going to be asking ourselves how to continue to ensure the quality of the Ringo Awards," said Marc Nathan, Baltimore Comic-Con promoter. "We created the basic jury blueprint in our inaugural year, and we were very happy with the outcome. With that in mind, we asked this year's jurors to participate based on their respective backgrounds in and knowledge of the industry, and we're confident the results will be worthy of voters' consideration."

About Mike Wieringo Michael Lance "Mike" Wieringo was known to fans and friends as "Ringo", which is how he signed his artwork. His comics artist graced the pages of DC Comics' The Flash, Adventures of Superman, Batman, and Robin, Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Sensational Spider-Man, and Rogue, and his co-creation Tellos. He passed away on August 12, 2007 at the young age of 44 from an apparent heart attack.

About the Ringo Awards The Mike Wieringo Comic Book Industry Awards is an annual celebration of the creativity, skill and fun of comics. The Ringo Awards recognize outstanding achievements in over 20 categories, and are the only industry awards nominated by fans and pros alike, with final voting by the comic professional community. Launched in 2017, the awards ceremony is held annually at the Baltimore Comic-Con. Further details are available at http://ringoawards.com

About the Baltimore Comic-Con The Baltimore Comic-Con is celebrating its 19th year of bringing the comic book industry to the Baltimore and Washington D.C. area. For more information, please visit http://baltimorecomiccon.com