The Small Press Expo has announced the 2018 nominations for their annual awards for excellence in independent comics, the Ignatz Awards. Named for the character in the classic comic strip Krazy Kat by George Herriman, the Ignatz is the festival prize of the Small Press Expo, that has recognized outstanding achievement in comics and cartooning since 1997. 

The ballot is created by a panel of five cartoonists and is voted on by the attendees of the SPX festival. Making up the 2018 jury is Leila Abdelrazaq, Kevin Czap, Mita Mahato, Carolyn Nowak, and Taneka Stotts. 

Outstanding Artist: Yvan Alagbé for Yellow Negroes and Other Imaginary Creatures, Ivy Atoms for Pinky & Pepper Forever, Tommi Parrish for The Lie and How We Told It, Richie Pope for The Box We Sit On, and Sophie Standing for Anxiety is Really Strange. 

Outstanding Collection: Beirut Won’t Cry by Mazen Kerbaj, Blackbird Days by Manuele Fior, Language Barrier by Hannah K. Lee, Sex Fantasy by Sophia Foster-Dimino, and Super Late Bloomer: My Early Days in Transition by Julia Kaye. 

Outstanding Anthology: La Raza Anthology: Unidos y Fuertes by Kat Fajardo & Pablo Castro, Comics for Choice by Hazel Newlevant, Whit Taylor, and Ø.K. Fox, Ink Brick #8 by Alexander Rothman, Paul K. Tunis, and Alexey Sokolin, Bottoms Up! Tales of Hitting Rock Bottom by J.T. Yost, and Lovers Only by Mickey Zacchilli. 

Outstanding Graphic Novel: Why Art? by Eleanor Davis, Run for It: Stories of Slaves Who Fought for Their Freedom by Marcelo D’Salete, Uncomfortably Happily by Yeon-sik Hong, The Lie and How We Told It by Tommi Parrish, and Anti-Gone by Connor Willumsen. 

Outstanding Series: Ley Lines by Grindstone Comics & Czap Books, Nori by Rumi Hara, Bug Boys by Laura Knetzger, Gumballs by Erin Nations, and Frontier by Youth in Decline. 

Outstanding Minicomic: Dog Nurse by Margot Ferrick, Greenhouse by Debbie Fong, Common Blessings & Common Curses by Maritsa Patrinos, Mothball 88 by Kevin Reilly, and Say It With Noodles: On Learning to Speak the Language of Food by Shing Yin Khor. 

Outstanding Comic: Recollection by Alyssa Berg, How to Be Alive by Tara Booth, Hot Summer Nights by Freddy Carrasco, Whatsa Paintoonist? by Jerry Moriarty, and Baopu by Yao Xiao. 

Outstanding Online Comic: Woman World by Aminder Dhaliwal,; The Wolves Outside by Jesse England, A Fire Story by Brian Fies; Lara Croft Was My Family by Carta Monir, and A Part of Me is Still Unknown by Meg O’Shea. 

Promising New Talent: Iasmin Omar Ata for Mis(h)adra, Tara Booth for How to Be Alive, Xia Gordon for The Fashion of 2004, Rumi Hara for Nori and the Rabbits of the Moon, and Tommi Parrish for The Lie and How We Told It. 

Outstanding Story: Yellow Negroes and Other Imaginary Creatures by Yvan Alagbé, Why Art? by Eleanor Davis, Rhode Island Me by Michael DeForge, How the Best Hunter in the Village Met Her Death by Molly Ostertag, and The Lie and How We Told It by Tommi Parrish.