2012 INKWELL AWARDS TOUR, MS. INKWELL AND VOTING DETAILS!

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 fund-raising auctions on eBay enabled us to fully fund our annual Dave Simons Inkwell Memorial Scholarship Fund for the Joe Kubert 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."

(Left-right) Melissa Dloughy Bender with Bob Almond and the April 2011 Pittsburgh Ms. Inkwell Alana Stanley.

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 on April 20-22.   We have a new Ms. Inkwell model to portray our popular spokes-model, 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 'home-base' of Charlotte, NC for Heroes Con 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 long-time 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".

 

Melissa Bender posing in an early photo shoot as the Inkwell spokesperson

 

The Inkwell Awards 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.