Eagles Initiative talent competition axed due to low number of entries

Organisers of the Eagles Initiative talent competition, launched last year, have abandoned this year's competition.

The Eagles Initiative was launched in May 2010 as an independent offshoot of the Eagle Awards (see news story) to find and promote new creators in a worldwide talent search. With many industry professionals graciously agreeing to donate their time to judge a shortlist of twelve entries to form three prize winners, and with Stan Lee as its patron, it was a bold experiment and the team behind the project expected many thousands of entries, with a top prize of £1000 on offer.

"Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, I have had to reluctantly cancel this years Eagles Initiative competition due to low turnout," announced organiser Barry Renshaw.

"Though many entries were of a very high standard, there were not enough submissions to make the competition viable.

"It's a decision that is bitterly disappointing to me and everyone involved," he added, "especially after the amount of time and effort put into it, but considering the poor response it was the only option."

All registration fees are being refunded and as per the guidelines, all submissions remain creator owned and of course will not be published by the Initiative. Entrants have already been informed.

Among those who had agreed to participate as judges were Tom Brevoort, Mike Carey, Howard Chaykin, Chris Claremont, Mike Deodato Jr, Steve Epting, David Finch, Geoff Johns, Denny O’Neil, Trina Robbins, Bob Shreck, Gail Simone and Roy Thomas.

The plan was for  all 12 short listed entries to be made available both digitally and in print in the form of an internationally distributed anthology.

While admitting to be "personally gutted" by the cancellation, Renshaw added "we will be looking at developing smaller more localised projects in the future. We still believe a proactive and progressive approach to finding and developing new talent is important and the Eagles Initiative will pursue that mandate in the future.

"In the meantime I want to take this opportunity to personally thank all the industry professionals for offering their time for free to be a competition judge, and for lending their support to what I still believe to be a unique opportunity for undiscovered talent."

• Eagles Initiative web site: www.eaglesinitiative.com 

The Webcomic List Awards 2010 Nominations Start November 8th

Launched last year to replace the now defunct Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards, the Webcomic List Awards exist to recognise the best that online comics have to offer and nominations are open to everyone involved in the creation, promotion or distribution of comics.

The categories covered in the awards are:

• Best Comic
• Best New Comic for webcomics launched on or after the first of November 2009
• Best Colour Art
• Best Black and White Art
• Best Non-traditional Art, covering all artistic techniques other than conventional drawn images, such as photography, pixel art and 3D art
• Best Writing
• Best Character
• Best Gag-a-day Comic
• Best Longform Comic

Nominations will run from the 8th November until the 20th December after which the comics with the highest nominations will be handed to a panel of judges who will pick the winners in each category to be announced in an online illustrated ceremony on the 31st January 2011.

The Webcomic List (www.thewebcomiclist.com) is a Webcomic listing site, news portal and community forum launched in 2003 which lists and monitors over 16,800 online comics.

"Judging this year's awards are a selection of prominent web and print comic creators, as well as community organisers," explains Wendy Wood, head of this year's TWCL Award committee.

Judges confirmed for this year include: Scary-Go-Round and Bad Machinery creator, John Allison; Screenwriter, novelist and former editor of Judge Dredd Megazine and 2000AD, David Bishop; DC, Marvel and Image Comics veteran Kurt Hathaway; Rob Tracy, founder of webcomicscommunity.com; Melissa De Jesus and Ed Power, creators of the syndicated strip My Cage; Zoe Robinson and Luke Surl of the Webcomics Company podcast; creator of the webcomic My Cardboard Life, Phillipa Rice; Online Comedian Dr. Stuart Ashen; and  Tom Truszkowski, creator of Station V3, Z7, Silence in the Darkness of Q16 and Ebb's Children.


• More info: www.thewebcomiclist.com

Eagle Initiative web site launches

The Eagle Initiative has announced that its website is now open for submissions to its innovative worldwide talent search.

With Stan Lee as its patron and a host of top name creators on board as judges, the Initiative – an offshoot of the long-established Eagle Awards – is offering untried talent a chance to demonstrate their abilities before a global audience. It is providing a unique platform from which the next generation of writers and artists can promote their storytelling ability in an increasingly competitive market.

Launched in May 2010, the Initiative, which is the brainchild of Barry Renshaw, provides a unique platform from which the next generation of writers and artists can promote their storytelling ability in an increasingly competitive market.

Entrants can be a single writer/artist, a writer and artist, or a writer, penciller and inker team. They should submit a clearly told, self contained story of between 4 and 10 pages to www.eaglesinitiative.com/Submissions where full details can be found.

The thousands of expected entries will be assessed by a hand-picked jury of comics readers, which will present a final dozen to the panel of judges comprising many of the comics industry's top talents. Among those who have already agreed to participate are Tom Brevoort, Mike Carey, Howard Chaykin, Chris Claremont, Mike Deodato Jr, Steve Epting, David Finch, Geoff Johns, Denny O’Neil, Trina Robbins, Bob Shreck, Gail Simone and Roy Thomas.
A cash prize is on offer to the top three entries as voted by the judges:

First: £1,000
Second: £500
Third: £250

In addition, all 12 short listed entries will made available both digitally and in print in the form of an internationally distributed anthology.

The deadline for submissions is midnight (Greenwich Mean Time) on Monday 31st January 2011.

• For further details on the Initiative, a full list of judges and complete submission guidelines, go to www.eaglesinitiative.com

Stan Lee supports UK's 'Eagle Initiative' for new creators

Stan Lee – the celebrated co-creator of such enduring Marvel characters as Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk and the X-Men – has agreed to become patron of the Eagle Initiative.

Agreeing to give his backing to the innovative worldwide talent search, Lee said, 'Way back in 1976 mine was the first name enrolled on the Eagle Awards Roll of Honour and I’m thrilled, lo these many years later, to be invited to be a patron of this pioneering initiative which stems from such prestigious and long-running prizes.

“Breaking into comic books has never been easy and I think it's great that Barry Renshaw and Cassandra Conroy are devoting their energies to helping newcomers from around the world get their foot on – and up – the ladder,” added the venerated writer and editor.

“I’m delighted to add my name to the Eagle Initiative and wish every contestant all the best, both with their entries and their subsequent careers. Who knows, this ambitious project might lead to the discovery of a 21st century Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko... or Stan Lee!”

Launched earlier this year, the Eagles Initiative provides a unique platform from which the next generation of writers and artists can promote their storytelling ability in an increasingly competitive market. The brainchild of Barry Renshaw, the Initiative is an unprecedented global talent search, entrants will be asked to submit an original self-contained illustrated story.

The winner will be awarded a £1,000 cash prize; the runner up will win £500 with the third place submission being given £250. All three stories are to be included in the Initiative Anthology, which will be released as a print publication and in multiple languages across the digital media.

“Having an industry legend like Stan Lee not only support the Initiative but agree to be its patron is both incredibly exciting and humbling at the same time," says Barry Renshaw, who is spearheading the project.

"I certainly never expected to receive the amount of interest and support from industry professionals that we have done over just a few short months, and everyone behind the scenes at the Initiative is absolutely dedicated to making sure we live up to their faith in the endeavour."

Now heading up the Eagle Awards, Cassandra Conroy added, “The Marvel Universe had just had its 30th birthday when I came into this world but my dad familarised me with those classic early stories throughout my formative years. It is, therefore, a great honour to have Stan Lee not only support us on the Initiative but also be so enthusiastic about what Barry is doing.

"I’m sure his involvement will catapult the Initiative and the Eagle Awards themselves into the wider public spotlight.”

“Things just keep getting better for Barry and Cassandra," notes Eagle Awards founder Mike Conroy, who is serving as a consultant and publicist to the Initiative.

"The industry has been behind them from the start but to get backing from the living legend that is Stan Lee just turns things up to 11!”

• For further details on the Initiative, a full list of judges and complete submission guidelines, go to www.eaglesinitiative.com/

Eagle Awards launch worldwide talent search

The Eagle Awards committee is to offer untried talent a chance to demonstrate their abilities before a global audience which has already garnered some prestigious support from the likes of Chris Claremont, Dave Gibbons and Mark Waid.

The project, which launches in July, will include a print anthology, to be published globally.

Unveiled at last weekend's Bristol International Comics and Small Press Expo, the Eagle Awards Initiative hopes to provide a unique platform from which the next generation of writers and artists can promote their storytelling ability in an increasingly competitive market.

Established as an annual event and with the emphasis very much on storytelling, the inaugural competition aspect gets underway on 1st July 2010, when the Initiative will open for submissions.

"I've always thought the Eagles could take a far more progressive and proactive role in the comics industry, especially within the UK which has such an untapped and unsupported pool of talent," explains Initiative director Barry Renshaw, who has been an active creator in the UK independent comics industry for over a decade. "When I was asked to rebrand the Eagle Awards themselves last year, I pitched the idea of the Initiative to the committee and it soon snowballed into something far more expansive."

"When Barry came to me with the idea I thought it was the best way to expand and relaunch the Eagles brand," says Eagle Awards chair Cassandra Conroy. "Considering the Eagles recieve global recognition I believed this would help the industry discover new talent not just from here and the USA, but from places we wouldn't perhaps expect."

In what is an unprecedented global talent search, entrants will be asked to submit an original self-contained illustrated story. The thousands of projected entries will be assessed by a hand-picked jury of comics readers, which will present a final dozen to the panel of judges comprising many of the comics industry's top talents.

Among those who have already agreed to participate are Peter Bagge, Karen Berger, Chris Claremont, David Finch, Dave Gibbons, Geoff Johns, Gilbert Shelton, Jeff Smith, Bryan Talbot, Ethan Van Sciver, Mark Waid and Brian Wood.

The judges will select a top three from the final 12 with the winner be awarded a £1,000 cash prize. The runner up will win £500 with the third place submission being given £250. All three stories are to be included in the Initiative Anthology, which will be released as a print publication and in multiple languages across the digital media.

Barry Renshaw is himself a publisher of his own Engine Comics imprint, the award winning Redeye Magazine, and the popular How to Self Publish - A Rough Guide. He was asked to join the Eagle Awards committee in 2009 to help reinvent the brand, and saw an opportunity for the Awards to play a more progressive and proactive role in the comics industry. The Initiative is the first part of that expanded role. He's also as run or appeared at various workshops, seminars and panels on comics publishing over the years.

"The Initiative is the first stage in a several year plan to reform the Eagles into a tool for developing new talent, for educating young people about the potential in the medium, and to help connect the many disparate elements of the comics industry together," Barry explains. "As an example, we have creators, editors, publishers, journalists, festival organisers, distributors and academics from across the world among our judges."

Announcing his support for the Eagle Awards Initiative, BOOM! Studios editor-in-chief Mark Waid said, "This medium is nothing without new talent, young blood, and fresh perspectives.

"It's our responsibility to nurture the next generation of creators and share what we've learned ? and, in return, learn from and be energised by them. I can't wait to roll up my sleeves and get into this," added Waid whose numerous writing credits include Kingdom Come, The Flash, Impulse and Captain America.

Introduced in 1976, the Eagles are the comics industry's longest established awards. Unique in that they reflect the people's choice, they are awarded by fans who vote for their favourite in each category of the awards. They are named after the fondly remembered 1950's British comic anthology Eagle, and were originated by two British fans, Mike Conroy and Richard Burton. The awards proved to be successful, with American publishers such as Marvel Comics announcing their victories with pride. They have relaunched in 2010 with a new look, a new mandate and a new vision for the future.

• For further details on the Initiative, a full list of judges and complete submission guidelines, go to www.eaglesinitiative.com.