DCL001 receives Gold Ledger at the Comic Arts Awards of Australia
I had the great pleasure of visiting Adelaide for a whirlwind trip, the purpose of which was to attend the Comic Arts Awards of Australia (the “Caaa’s”) awards ceremony, held at the Nexus Arts Centre on Friday 15th September 2023.
The Awards Ceremony was hosted by the larger-than-life storytelling wizard Bernard Caleo, and facilitated by the co-founder of the Ledger Awards and brilliant comic artist Gary Chaloner. It was a really fantastic night, where I got to meet many super-nice and highly creative individuals.
To my great astonishment and delight, the first issue of my book DEAD CITY LULLABIES (which I certainly hope you’ve taken the time to read here) won the prestigious GOLD Ledger award.
In a fully visual artform and community like comics, where you can really only get a sense of a piece by sitting down and fully engaging with the work, I really am deeply honoured that my book has been considered for such a thing - let alone taking home the gold award. Something in it must resonate, and that’s the greatest accolade for me.
I’d like to congratulate everyone who was shortlisted, and to all my fellow recipients below. You are all doing something really special.
I’d also like to thank the unwavering support of my lovely wife Vanessa, and our beautiful daughter Aurora; without whose support I wouldn’t be able to dedicate that large piece of me that enables me to create this work.
You can read all about the CAAA here:
https://comicartsaust.com.au/
If you’d like to watch the livestream of the event, you can see the recording here:
https://caaa.comx.studio/
BRONZE LEDGER
‘Crossing the Strait‘ (published in West Coast Comics Anthology #2, Neighbourhood Press)
Written and illustrated by Lewis O’Donnell
Koi (Amplified Press)
Written and illustrated by Adam Gillespie
Pinups by Owen Heitmann, Jana Hoffmann, Finn O’Sullivan
Talgard Tome Two (Gestalt Publishing)
Written by Gary Proudley
Stories illustrated by Cody Anderson, Lauren Armstrong, Al Barrionuevo, Daniel A. Becker, Sarah Boxall, Sacha Bryning, Robert Buratti, Gary Chaloner, Queenie Chan, Tatiana Davidson, Jana Hoffmann, Louie Joyce, Paul Mason, Tim McEwen, Brenton McKenna, Stephanie Palladino, Dean Rankine, Cristian Roux, Campbell Whyte
Coloured by Justin Randall
Cover art by Sacha Bryning
Edited and lettered by Wolfgang Bylsma
Batrisha and the Creepy Caretaker (Comicoz)
Written and illustrated by Dillon Naylor
Book design by Ryan McDonald-Smith
Project coordinated by Nat Karmichael
SILVER LEDGER
Rainbow the Koala: Surviving The Wild (Allen & Unwin)
Written and illustrated by Remy Lai
My Aunt is a Monster (Random House Graphic)
Written and illustrated by Reimena Yee
Neverlanders (Penguin Random House Australia)
Written by Tom Taylor
Art by Jon Sommariva
Colours by Msassyk, Vaneda Vireak, Jean-Francois Beaulieu
Lettering by Wolfgang Bylsma
Edited by Christopher Hernandez
GOLD LEDGER
Dead City Lullabies #1 (self published)
Written and illustrated by Aidan Roberts
You can view the Awards Ceremony online at:
https://caaa.comx.studio
Nearly 30 shortlisted.. That's a big field, some of them with a big team behind them too. Super effort mate