Celebrating the Best in Fiction and Nonfiction Graphic Novels

Because modern readers are living during the greatest communication revolution of all-time, a time when print-text and visual-text share the literary stage, 21^st century educators, librarians, and publishers are noticing an increased need to teach with literature that embraces both literacies simultaneously.

Graphic novels rely on images and words to tell contemporary stories.  While the text tells one piece of the story and the art tells another piece of the story, collectively they tell an entire story.  The Excellence in Graphic Literature Awards was started in 2017 to honor the best and brightest graphic novel titles published in a calendar year.

Pop Culture Classroom is proud to honor the world-class creators of this art form through the Excellence in Graphic Literature Awards. This awards program is directly connected to our mission to inspire a love of learning, increase literacy, celebrate diversity and build community through the tools of popular culture and the power of self-expression.

About The Excellence In Graphic Literature Awards

Pop Culture Classroom and Denver Pop Culture Con are excited to announce the third year of the Excellence in Graphic Literature Awards.

Our Advisory Board and Juries are composed of diverse, experienced and informed professionals that span the publishing, library, and education industries. These team members will select the best in graphic literature through a clearly defined and transparent process.

Starting in Fall of 2019, we will be accepting submissions for any and all book-length works published during the calendar year of 2019, regardless of publisher size. Individuals, creative teams, editors, agents, and publishers are all welcome to submit their titles for consideration.

Each title will be reviewed by a diverse group of expert graphic literature jurors, and on July 3, 2020, Denver Pop Culture Con will host a ceremony and a reception to honor both the nominated and the winning titles.

The 2018 inaugural winners included Spill Zone by Scott Westerfeld and Alex Puvilland (Book of the Year Winner), The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui (Mosaic Award), Real Friends by Shannon Hale and LeUyen (Children’s), As the Crow Flies by Melanie Gilman (Middle Grade), Home Time by Campbell Whyte (Young Adult), and The Hunting Accident by David L. Carlson and Landis Blair (Adult).

The 2019 award winners included Berlin by Jason Lutes (Book of the Year Winner) and The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang (Mosaic Award), and category winners Tiger vs. Nightmare by Emily Tetri and The Eye that Never Sleeps by Marissa Moss & Jeremy Holmes (Children’s); Crush by Svetlana Chmakova and The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler by John Hendrix (Middle Grade); Illegal by Eoin Colfer & Andrew Donkin and Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett J. Krosoczka (Young Adult); and Berlin by Jason Lutes and Monk!: Thelonious Pannonica, and the Friendship Behind a Musical Revolution by Youssef Daoud (Adult).

World-renowned sculptors Colin and Kristine Poole have designed a trophy that will be a treasured reminder of the achievement of winning the Excellence in Graphic Literature Awards, along with an associated medallion that can be used for book promotion following the award ceremony on June 1, 2019 at Denver Pop Culture Con.