Brooklyn’s newest comics awards have their first ballot. The Brooklyn Organization Dedicated to the Endurance of the Graphic Arts, better known as BODEGA, unveiled the inaugural nominees for its Comics Arts Trophy, or CAT Awards, and The Comics Beat has the full list.
What the CAT Awards are
BODEGA was co-founded by writer James Tynion IV, executive director Bryce Gold and Courtney Menard. The group created the CAT Awards to spotlight small-press and indie comics that often get lost next to bigger show prizes. The trophy itself was designed by cartoonist Alex Krokus and produced by Clutter Toys in Beacon, New York.
The awards are tied to the Brooklyn Expo of Comics, which runs November 14 and 15 at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Williamsburg. Admission to the expo is free. Public voting is open now on the official BODEGA CAT Awards page and closes at 4 p.m. on Saturday, November 14. Winners will be announced that night at the Mid-Con Party at Union Pool (484 Union Ave) from 8 p.m. to midnight. The party is free and 21 and up.
Who is nominated
Best Minicomic includes Enframement by K. Wroten, Companion by Olivia Fredericks, Girl Yaoi by Ana Two (Diskette Press), Word From the Bird by Grayson Bear (Secret Room Press), Creamthing In His Golden Year by Sam Hensley, The Future Collapses to a Single Point by Jon Allen, and The Old Woman Part 4 by Rebecca Mock.
Best Graphic Novel nominees are Like Swimmers by Dash Shaw (NYRB), Identical by Leah Hayes (Fantagraphics), Testament by J. Marshall Smith (Bulgilhan), Flea by Mara Ramirez (Fieldmouse), A Tale Of Two Travelers by Madita Schwenke (Fieldmouse), The Weight by Melissa Mendes (Drawn & Quarterly), and Mary Pain by Lola Lorente (Drawn & Quarterly).
Best Anthology covers Ex.Mag Vol. 6, SYSTEM 01: Hot Net Hotel, CRAM Comics #5, Datura Magazine No. 4, Witch Window, and Leather & Lace. Best Design ranges from SYSTEM 01 and Linnea Sterte’s A Garden of Spheres (Peow2) to Jesse Lonergan’s Faster Complete Edition (Bulgilhan), John F. Malta’s The Terror of the Moldy Shore, Witch Window, AT Pratt’s Action Baby Comics: Animal Alphabet, Leather & Lace, and Jasjyot Singh Hans’ Sikh Femmes in Sick Fashion.
There is also an Honorary New Yorker category recognizing artists with strong ties to the city’s comics scene, including Alexander Laird, Andrew Alexander, Caroline Cash, Lee Lai, Lale Westvind, Michael DeForge and Audra Stang.
Why it matters
Several of the same names just cleaned up at other indie shows. Lee Lai and Jesse Lonergan were among the big winners at the 2026 Ignatz Awards, so seeing them on a brand-new Brooklyn ballot underlines how small the top tier of alternative comics still is. For readers who care about minicomics and design as much as big graphic novels, the CAT Awards are a new checklist worth voting on before November 14.
