After two successful outings in Delhi and Mumbai this year, the organisers of Comic Con are gearing up to host an awards ceremony honouring comic talent in the country. The first ever Comic Con India Awards is set to be held in the Capital in February next year, a day before the second edition of the event takes off. 

  

The purpose is simple to honour and showcase the great talent that exists in this country. There really arent any awards for the Indian comics industry and hopefully these will serve as a catalyst to push more people into the industry, says Jatin Varma, founder, Comic Con India. He adds that this had been in the works since the beginning, and now that they are headed into their second year, they felt it would be the right time to organize this even as well.

Best Graphic Novel/Comic Book of the Year, Best Cover, Best Artist and Best Writer are some of the tentative categories listed. The deadline for submission of entries is January 10, 2012.

The jury consisting of Orijit Sen (graphic artist and designer), Vaibhav Kumaresh (animation filmmaker) and the Comic Con India Core Team will go through the entries submitted and eventually shortlist them.

For most categories, you need to have published your comic/graphic novel in 2011 itself. Also, some of our categories go beyond the comics industry. There is a category for the Best Web Comic as well as one for unpublished artists. We also have a few special awards such as the Lifetime Achievement Award,says Varma.

The second annual Indian Comics Convention will take place in February in New Delhi.

Varma adds, We are certainly seriously considering making Mumbai an annual event, and also have Bangalore on our radar. However, nothing is finalised as of now.