The judges for this year’s McDuffie Award are Edith Donnell, a Kids Read Comics cofounder and youth and teen librarian; Andrew Woodrow-Butcher, manager of Little Island Comics, a comic shop exclusively for kids; Eva Volin, a children’s librarian and comics-in-libraries advocate; and Marv Wolfman, a comics and animation writer and editor whose storied career goes back nearly half a century.
The judges considered over 100 titles published in 2015 that were created for readers up to 13 years of age and narrowed the field down to ten based on four criteria: Quality, Timelessness, Originality, and Diversity. The shortlist for the Dwayne McDuffie Award of Kids’ Comics 2016 (listed in alphabetical order) includes:Awkward by Svetlana Chmakova—Yen Press
Chi’s Sweet Home, Vol. 12 by Konami Konata—Vertical
Courtney Crumrin, Vol. 7: Tales of a Warlock by Ted Naifeh—Oni Press
Flop to the Top by Eleanor Davis and Drew Weing—Toon Books
The Flying Beaver Brothers & the Crazy Critter Race by Maxwell Eaton—Random House
Human Body Theater by Maris Wicks—First Second
LumberJanes, Vol. 1: Beware the Kitten Holy by Noelle Stephenson, Grace Ellis, Shannon Watters, and Brook Allen—Boom Studio
Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales: The Underground Abductor by Nathan Hale—Abrams
Ultraman by Tomohiro Shimoguchi & Eiichi Shimizu—Viz Media
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Vol. 1: Squirrel Power by Ryan North and Erica Henderson—Marvel Comics