Official Press Release
The Inkwell Awards wants to announce that the fifth
season is in full swing this spring after a strong opening. "The Joe
Sinnott Inking Challenge event went exceptionally well and the book collection
of our first Challenge has sold more copies than I can keep up with, especially
the Joe Sinnott signed and numbered editions!" says Inkwell Awards
director Bob Almond. "Thanks to our loyal supporters, our ongoing
fundraising auctions on eBay
(http://www.ebay.com/sch/merchant/theinkwellawards) enabled us to fully fund
our annual Dave Simons Inkwell Memorial Scholarship Fund for the JoeKubert
School of Cartooning & Design.” The
only noticeable difference between 2012 and 2011 will be the number of
convention stops on our Inkwell tour. “Last year consisted of a heavy show
schedule,” continues Bob, “but this year my dad was sick for several months and
passed away in February with my mom moving in with me, leaving me barely able
to keep up with operations and assignments let alone convention hopping. But
thankfully my team has been all I could hope for in their dedication and
execution of duties in a timely fashion. They inspired me when things were
really rough."
The non-profit organization have made two stops familiar
in their annual travels and this year is no exception. Bob continues,
"Next week we will be revisiting our 'family' and attending Pittsburgh
Comicon (http://www.pittsburghcomicon.com/) on April 20-22. We have a new Ms.
Inkwell model to portray our popular spokesmodel, Melissa Dloughy Bender, a
local resident who's been a cosplay staple at this show for some time now.
We'll also have Creator Editions of our Joe Sinnott Inking Challenge book,
signed & numbered to only five with autographs from Joe himself, intro
writer and Hall of Fame award-winning inker Terry Austin, and book producers
Daniel Best, Jim Tournas, and myself." The other stop will be at the
Inkwell Awards 'homebase' of Charlotte, NC for Heroes Con
(http://www.heroesonline.com/heroescon/) on June 22-24 where they present their
annual live ceremony. "Most of our organization, past and present, will be
attending the event and our new down south Ms. Inkwell model will be played by
Ciara Michelle, a longtime convention assistant of our model liaison
contributor (and exceptional artist) Louis Small, Jr." says Bob.
"She's also a local resident and we had that development in the works for
some time but we simply had to wait until the time was right for her to step
up. We will also debut the annual Inkwell Awards Donation Drive book that
weekend with a awesome cover by superstar artist Mike McKone, one of our
ambassadors."
Now that the Nomination Committee ballots have been
tallied, voting this year will take place May 1- May 15 when the official
public ballot will be accessible traditionally on the Inkwell Awards website
homepage. The voting is open to all public participants, whether they be fans
or fellow creators and peers. The award winners will be brought to the Heroes
Con and announced at the Inkwell Awards ceremony. Bob closes with "We'll
have more Heroes/ceremony details as we get closer to June but we're already so
excited for this event where everyone's hard work will pay off and the best of the
best ink artists and their work will be recognized".
The Inkwell Awards (http://www.inkwellawards.com) is an
official 501(c)3 non-profit organization whose mission is to promote and
educate about the art form of comic book inking and to annually recognize and
award the best ink artists and their work. Now in their fifth year, the
organization is overseen by a number of industry professionals such as founder
& director Bob Almond, Jimmy Tournas, Michael W. Kellar, Stacey Aragon and
Sarah L. Covert who make up the IA core committee and Adam Hughes, Mike Marts,
Ethan Van Sciver, Mark Brooks, Sal Velluto, Mike McKone, Trevor Von Eeden, J.
David Spurlock, Cully Hamner, Phil Jimenez, Eric Basaldua, Joe Kubert and Jim
Shooter who make up their IA ambassadors, and numerous contributors such as Dan
Panosian, Louis Small, Jr. and Randy Green among others. They sponsor the Dave
Simons Inkwell Memorial Scholarship Fund for the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon
& Graphic Art and host the Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame Award.
(Left-right) Melissa Dloughy Bender with Bob Almond and
the April 2011 Pittsburgh Ms. Inkwell Alana Stanley.
Melissa posing in an early photo shoot as the Inkwell
spokesperson.