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Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards

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The Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards (WCCAs) is an annual event in which online cartoonists nominate and select outstanding webcomics. The WCCAs represent a form of peer recognition, with voting rights granted only to creators working on online webcomics.

The WCCA were started by Scott Maddix and Mark Mekkes in 2000, with the first awards made in 2001. Mekkes noted his motivation as being to "create a webcomic award process that would do the most to help the webcomic community and encourage creators to strive toward greatness." Mekkes set up a committee to run the awards, initially known as the Cartoonists' Choice Awards, assuming the position of chairman, a role he still holds today. Silver Bullets has described the committee as "an independent organization dedicated to the promotion and recognition of online comics and their creators."

Although there are numerous categories, a fact the New York Times criticised in 2005, noting that at 26 there "were too many award categories", no comic has managed to win an award every year since the award's inception. In fact, only Megatokyo has received a nomination every year. The comic strip to have achieved the most awards is the now-defunct Mac Hall with 9 followed by Chopping Block and The Perry Bible Fellowship which have received 8 awards, and Penny Arcade and Count Your Sheep which have won 7 awards.

Contents

[edit] The Awards Process

Recipients are chosen via two rounds of popular vote by fellow webcomics creators. In the nomination round, webcomics creators nominate up to three choices in each category. The most frequently nominated choices in each category are then entered onto a ballot, allowing the winner to be chosen through the second round of voting.

The awards have been held since 2001, and were featured in a New York Times column on webcomics in 2005. Traditionally the award winners are announced in an online presentation in comic form. In 2007, a live presentation of the awards was made at MegaCon.

Awards categories change from year to year, as the administrators continue to fine-tune the process.

[edit] Controversy

Controversy over the procedure - and even necessity - of the awards has existed since the beginning. Many critics believe the WCCAs are nothing more than a popularity contest and that widely known comics such as Penny Arcade, Megatokyo and PvP are always nominated and usually win. Some say the event gives little recognition to talented - but unknown - artists. In actuality, these comics are not as strongly represented as first believed. As mentioned above, no comic has won an award all seven years, and only Megatokyo has received a nomination each year with Schlock Mercenary and Something Positive getting nominations in six of the seven years.

On the other hand, it can be argued that the WCCAs increase interest in comics that voters may never have seen before. It also gives artists a chance to collectively praise the work of others, and encourages webcartoonists to participate as a community. The WCCA staff has made efforts to improve the awards with each year (such as adding more diverse categories, including one just for the year's newcomers).

The 2006 awards saw problems with both the nominations and the ceremony. Eric Millikin's Fetus-X was ruled ineligible by the committee as a candidate for "Best Romance Comic", and the award ceremony found itself delayed due to technical issues, and was not ready until five days after the winners had been announced.

[edit] Results

[edit] Executive Committee

Chief Executive
Chairman of the Committee - Mark Mekkes (Zortic), March 3, 2000 - present
Website
Webmaster - Mark Mekkes (Zortic), Jan 20, 2003 - present

[edit] Membership

Registrar
Michael H. Payne (Terebinth and Daily Grind), Sept 15, 2003 - present
Advisor
"Damonk" (Naught Framed), Jan 20, 2002 - present
Elections Designer
"Damonk" (Naught Framed), Jan 20, 2002 - present
PR Administrator
Mark Mekkes (Zortic), March 3, 2000 - present
Director of Ceremonies
Ryan Estrada, Mar 19, 2005 - present
Award Designer
"Damonk" (Naught Framed), Jan 20, 2002 - present
Other Participating Committee Members
Matt B., T Campbell (Fans), Teri Crosby (Keenspot), Steve Galgas (Mr. Grant), Phil Kahn, Mari Rose (Wings of Change),

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://www.webcomicwiki.net/Web_Cartoonists%27_Choice_Awards"