The 2026 Ignatz Awards were presented on September 12, 2026 at the Small Press Expo (SPX) in Bethesda, Maryland, recognizing outstanding work in independent comics, graphic novels, and minicomics. Cartoonist Lisa Hanawalt delivered the ceremony keynote — color for the night, not a competitive category win. Smash Pages published a full winners wrap on September 13.
Outstanding Artist went to Carol Tyler for The Ephemerata: Shaping the Exquisite Nature of Grief (Fantagraphics). Outstanding Graphic Novel went to Lee Lai for Cannon (Drawn & Quarterly / Giramondo). Outstanding Story went to Jesse Lonergan for Drome (23rd Street). Outstanding Collection went to Michael DeForge for All the Cameras in My Room (Drawn & Quarterly).
Outstanding Anthology went to LAAB: A Comics Anthology No. 3, edited by Ronald Wimberly (Beehive Books). Outstanding Comic went to Zoo #5 by Anand Shenoy (Self-Published). Outstanding Minicomic went to Uncoiling: A Japanese-American Family History by Yoko O.K. (Self-Published). Outstanding Online Comic went to Blind Alley by Adam de Souza. Outstanding Series went to Wedding Juice and Other Melodramas by Sanika Phawde (Self-Published). Promising New Talent went to Oscar Woodiwiss for A Scientific Study Of Transsexuality (Fieldmouse Press).
Named for the brick-throwing mouse in George Herriman’s Krazy Kat, the Ignatz Awards have honored small-press comics since 1997. This year’s slate mixed Fantagraphics, Drawn & Quarterly / Giramondo, 23rd Street, Beehive Books, and Fieldmouse Press with several self-published wins across comic, minicomic, and series categories. Smash Pages notes multiple past Ignatz winners among this year’s recipients, including Lai, Lonergan, and DeForge, and flags Drawn & Quarterly as the publisher with the most awards on the night — two — without inventing sales figures or new publishing deals beyond the published winners list.
For adjacent live comics coverage on RCG, see Silent Hill Townfall Gets 2000 AD Dock House Comic — a separate strip announce, same comics desk lane.
What we are not saying: Lisa Hanawalt is ceremony keynote color only and is not an Ignatz winner; this filing does not invent extra categories, runners-up as winners, sales numbers, or publisher deals beyond the published 2026 winners list above.
Retailers and readers tracking indie awards season can treat the Sep 12 SPX ceremony and the Sep 13 Smash Pages wrap as the current public record for the 2026 Ignatz slate. Any later collected editions, variant covers, or follow-on publisher announcements would be separate news if and when creators or publishers publish them.
