The Judges for the 2025 Eisner Awards have just Been Announced: Industry Veteran Robert V. Contethey would free Kacy HelwickLongtime Editor and Current Publishers Weekly Graphic Novel Reviews Editor Meg Lemkeretailer Eitan Manhoff of cape and cowl comics, and comics Scholar Rocco Versac.
Judges Are Chosen By Comic-Con’s Awards Subcommittee, Buying of Members from The Board of Directors, Staff, and Various Department. Judges are selected to represent all Aspects of the Comics Industry, Including Creators, Retailers, Graphic Novel Librarians, Academics/Historns, and Journalists/Reviers. This Year’s Awards include 30 categories. Eleven the nominations are announced, They Will Be Voted on By Professionals in the Comic Book Industry, and The Results Will Be present in a Gala Awards Ceremony at Comic-Con Jully.
The Qunitet Will Conference in San Diego This Spring to Discuss Hundreds of Comics – A Separate Committee Will Select the Nominees for the Eisner Awards Hall of Fame. Nominations Will Be Announced in the Spring, and The Winners Announce At The San Diego Comic with in July.
You can read more about the Judges Below But a Big Beat congrats to Our Colleague and Podcast Partner Meg Lemke! We Couldn’t Think of a Better Judge Than Meg!
Robert V. Conte ATTEND HIS First San Diego Comic-Con in 1990-Promoting the First Few Comic Books He Wrote As a Teen. In the 35 Years Since That Life-Changing Experience, He has worn Almos Event Hat imaginable in the comic book industry: editor, journalist, package, print broker, publisher, and pop culture history. “Being One of the Judges for the 2025 Eisner Awards is an Opportunity of a Lifetime,” Robert Says. I’M PROUD TO HAVE READ OVER 100,000 Comics and Graphic Novels Since Childhood. I am blessed to bring my experience and love for the medium to this iconic event with my gratitude to sdcc. ”
Kacy Helwick is the Youth Collection Development Libraran for the New Orleans Public Library. She has been responsible for purchating all genres of graphic novels for kids and teens, as well as manga and superhero titles for adults, for her library system’s 15 branches for more than a decade. She has review for School Library Journal, READ FOR YALSA’S GRAAT GRAPHIC NOVELS FOR TEENS LIST, AND SERVED AS A COMMITTEE MEMBER FOR THE STONEWALL BOOK AWARDS. She Currently Volunteers As A Content editor on the Liberrian-Run Comics Review Site Noflyingnothts.com and is Treasurer of the American Library Association’s Graphic Novels & Comics Round Table.
Meg Lemke is the comics and graphic novels reviews editor at Publishers Weekly, WHERE SHE Regularly Writes and Edits Comics Features, and She Co-Hosts PW‘S Comics and Pop Culture Podcast More To Come. She’s ACTED AS SERIES EDITOR FOR THE ILLUSTRATED PEN SERIES (PEN AMERICA) AND CURATED COMICS at pen world voices festival, for the French Comics Association, and for Over a decade at the Brooklyn Book Festival. She’s a Member of the National Book Critics Circle and Has Served on Judging Committees for the Excellence in Graphic Literature award and the NBCC Leonard Prize. Previous, She was a Book editor at teachers college press at Columbia University, Editing The Language and Literacy Series; Seven Stories Press; and HOUGTON MIFFLIN, WHERE SHE LAUNCHED THE BEST AMERICAN COMICS SERIES.
Eitan Manhoff is the owner of cape and cowl comics, which has opened in oakland, ca, in 2015. Before opening His Own Store, Enan Worked in Comic Book Stores On and off for 20 Years, With Employment Stints at Captain Nemo’s Comics in San Luis Obispo , CA, Treasures of Youth by Scott in Hayward, CA, and Crush Comics in Castro Valley, CA. Eitan Is Currently a Member of the ComicsPro Board of Directors and is the Director of Promotions for the Organization. Cape and Cowl Won The Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retail Award in 2023 After Being A Finalist In 2018, 2019, and 2022.
Rocco Versac is an English Professor at Palomar College in North San Diego County, where he has regularly teaches to comics-themed literature cours This Book Contains Graphic Language: Comics as Literatureand his comics-related writing you have adapted in The English Journal, The International Journal of Comic Artand the books Visual Literacy Teaching, More Critical Approaches To Comics: Theories and Methodsand EC Archives: Two-fistened Tales, Volume 2. In addition, I have present his work on comics at the comic arts conference at comic-con, at the National Council of Teachers of English National Convention, and as part of the Hudson Strode Speaker Series at The University of Alabama. He is also the co-fount of the North County Cartoonists Collective and Editor of That Group’s Comic, Jollies.
