Small Press Expo 2026 Ignatz Awards Submissions Information

Info On this Year's Submission Process

Hello Creators and Publishers!! Ignatz submissions are now being accepted. Below is the information you need to submit your works for this year's Ignatz Awards. This year we are premiering a new single submission form that allows you to submit your works to more than one category at a time. You can take your time with the submissions, as the submission window does not end until Sunday, May 31 11:59PM. Please read all of the below and any questions, do not hesitate to send them to ignatzawards@smallpressexpo.com. Thanks, Warren and Francesca SPX 2026 banner by Sanika Phawde. 2026 Ignatz Awards Schedule April 1 Midnight - Ignatz Submissions Open May 31 11:59PM - Ignatz Submissions Close Mid-August - Ignatz nominees announced and ballots available  September 12th @ 9:30PM - Ignatz Awards Ceremony 2026 Ignatz Logo by Vicky Yang. COPIES FOR THE SPX COLLECTION AT THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS In addition to the digital submission, you will need to send us one physical copy of your submission so if your work is nominated, we can display the Ignatz noms at the show, as well as preserve your works for future generations in the SPX Collection at the Library of Congress: Please mail 1 copy of the submission to: Warren Bernard c/o Small Press Expo 4509 Windsor Lane Bethesda, Maryland 20814 Physical copies are due by August 5. THE SUBMISSION PROCESS Any work submitted for the Ignatz Awards must have been published between June 1 2025 and May 31 2026. It is OK to submit your work if the release date is after you fill out the Ignatz Submission Form and before June 1. We have a new submission form this year that allows you to submit to the REQUIRED Categories and the OPTIONAL Categories at the same time. You must choose one of the following REQUIRED Categories: Outstanding Minicomic Outstanding Graphic Novel Outstanding Anthology Outstanding Collection Outstanding Comic Outstanding Online Comic On the same form, you can choose none or any of the OPTIONAL Categories: Outstanding Story Outstanding Artist Promising New Talent Outstanding Series You can read the definitions of these categories on the About The Ignatz Awards page on our web site. PLEASE NOTE: WHEN YOU SUBMIT THE FORM, IT WILL TAKE ABOUT 30 SECONDS FOR IT TO COMPLETE. WE ARE WORKING WITH THE VENDOR TO FIX IT, SORRY!!! Submit for the Ignatz Awards here. UPLOADING PDF FILES You will need to submit up to two PDF files so the judges can read your work: Please send us PDFs only of no more than two 200meg files in size per submission PDF file naming convention for Mini-comics, Comics, Series, Story, Artist, Promising New Talent, Collections and Graphic Novels is: CreatorLastName.CreatorFirstName.Comic_Title.IssueNumber (If needed).Publisher.PubMonthPubYear.pdf If there is no Issue Number, then do not put one in the file nameIf it is self published, put Self as the Publisher PDF file naming convention for Anthologies is: EditorLastName.EditorFirstName.Comic_Title.Publisher.PubMonthPubYear.pdf We ask that everybody take a look at compressing large PDF files. Here is the information from Adobe . We request you do so if indeed the Adobe compression does not impact the reading experience of your work. If you can do this, it will decrease the amount of time you will spend during the upload process. We also recommend splitting large files (over 200MB PDF's) into two, as shown here on the Adobe site. Copyright © 2026 Small Press Expo, All rights reserved.   You are getting this email because you signed up for one of our mailing lists!!