What the Eisner Awards Are
The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards are named for Will Eisner and presented at Comic-Con International: San Diego. The 38th annual ceremony took place on Friday, July 24, 2026, at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront Hotel. Awards were presented in 32 categories for works published in 2025. That distinction matters when searching: the ceremony year and the publication year are different. Record both when building a reading list.
How Nominees and Winners Are Chosen
Nomination and voting are separate stages. A panel of six judges meets in San Diego each spring to select nominees. The panel changes annually and usually includes a comics creator, critic or reviewer, graphic novel librarian, retailer, and scholar. Comic-Con's special awards committee selects the judges. Printed works must have been distributed in the United States between January 1 and December 31 of the previous year; online material must have first appeared during that period.
Voting is open to comics creators, nominees, publishers and editors, comics historians and educators, graphic novel librarians, and comic shop owners and managers. Voters apply before the nominees are announced. Nominees are usually announced in May, followed by online voting for registered voters. The official Eisner Awards FAQ explains these steps. For readers, nominations offer additional choices beyond the eventual winner.
From the Kirby Awards to the Eisners
Fantagraphics established the Jack Kirby Awards in 1984, with presentations at Comic-Con beginning in 1985. The Kirby Awards ended in 1987, when two awards programs began: the Harvey Awards and the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards. The first Eisners were presented in 1988 for works published in 1987. No Eisner Awards were given in 1990.
Comic-Con took over the awards beginning with the 1991 show, with Jackie Estrada as administrator. Comic-Con's history of the Eisner Awards traces that development. Keep the separate award names in mind when comparing honors across years, and check the date attached to each result.
The 2026 Winners
Absolute Martian Manhunter, by Deniz Camp and Javier Rodriguez for DC, led the 2026 results. It received Best Limited Series and Best Penciller/Inker for Rodriguez, and shared in Best Cover Artist for Rodriguez and Best Lettering for Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou. DC had eight wins plus two shared; Abrams had four, Fantagraphics three, and Image two plus two shared.
The official 2026 and 2025 Eisner winners lists provide the full category results. Useful entry points from 2026 include:
- Best Continuing Series: Absolute Batman, by Scott Snyder, Nick Dragotta, and others (DC).
- Best New Series: Assorted Crisis Events, by Deniz Camp and Eric Zawadski (Image).
- Best Publication for Early Readers: All the Hulk Feels, by Dan Santat (Abrams Fanfare/Marvel).
- Best Publication for Kids: The Cartoonists Club, by Raina Telgemeier and Scott McCloud (Scholastic Graphix).
- Best Publication for Teens: This Place Kills Me, by Mariko Tamaki and Nicole Goux (Abrams Fanfare). Tamaki also won Best Writer for this book.
For collections and scholarship, the winners included AKIRA Volumes 1–5 Hardcover Collection by Katsuhiro Otomo (Kodansha USA Publishing) for Best Archival Collection/Project—Comic Books, and Manga's First Century: How Creators and Fans Made Japanese Comics, 1905–1989 by Andrea Horbinski for Best Academic/Scholarly Work.
Highlights from 2025
The 2025 list offers another set of starting points. Santos Sisters from Floating World won Best Continuing Series, while Absolute Wonder Woman by Kelly Thompson and Hayden Sherman (DC) won Best New Series. Audience categories recognized Hilda and Twig Hide from the Rain by Luke Pearson for Early Readers, Plain Jane and the Mermaid by Vera Brosgol for Kids, and Lunar New Year Love Story by Gene Luen Yang and LeUyen Pham for Teens. Comparing the same category across years can make a manageable shortlist.
The Hall of Fame and Other Honors
The Hall of Fame is another part of the awards program. In 2026, voters selected Colleen Doran, Jeff Smith, Akira Toriyama, and Chris Ware, in addition to 19 judges' choices. The 2025 voters' selections included Junji Ito and John Romita, Jr. These names provide a separate route for exploring creators, alongside the publication categories.
Other 2026 honors included the 19th Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing, presented to Jenny Blake Isabella and Martin Pasko. The Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award went to Books with Pictures in Eugene, Oregon. That award recognizes support for the comics medium in the community and industry. Distinguish these honors from book and series awards when looking for something to read.
Using the Winners List as a Reading Guide
Begin with the category closest to your interests. If you are choosing for a younger reader, start with the audience categories and then consider that reader's preferences. If a series interests you, note the exact title and credited creators before looking for an edition. For an archival collection, copy the edition details too. A scholarly winner belongs on a different kind of reading list from a story you want to enjoy.
Choose a small shortlist and read a sample where available. Pay attention to the artwork, dialogue, and pacing that appeal to you. An award can suggest a book to investigate; your own response helps decide what to read next. Keep a note of the category and ceremony year beside each title so you can revisit your choices without confusing similarly named books or results from different years.