Apparently so. First up, the National Cartoonists Society has announced their full slate of nominees for their annual awards. They had already announced nominees for their coveted Reuben Award (named for famed brush-maker Coveted Reuben… oh, wait…) – including Dan Piraro, who gives us the wonderful one-panel Bizarro. (Full disclosure: he linked to one of my cartoons a year or two ago. And by “full disclosure”, I mean “To brag,…”)

And the Canadian Comic Book Creator Awards Association has announced the nominees for their annual Joe Shuster Awards (named, one assumes, for comedian Frank Shuster’s cousin… oh, wait…).

The Canadians, forward-thinking folks that we are, have a webcomic category. And the nominees are:

Attila Adorjany – Metaphysical Neuroma
Kate Beaton – Hark! A Vagrant
Andy Belanger – Bottle of Awesome and Raising Hell
Rene Engström – Anders Loves Maria
Karl Kerschl – The Abominable Charles Christopher
Gisèle Lagacé and David Lumsdon – Eerie Cuties and Ménage à 3
Tara Tallan – Galaxion
Steve Wolfhard – Cat Rackham

I intend to check all of them out; I hope you’ll do the same – especially Kate and Rene, who broke my heart with the conclusion of ALM last month.

(Glass ceiling alert: Note that the Shusters’ webcomics is the only category nearing gender parity; only a handful of women are scattered through the others in either list. Look at the lists of juries, jury chairs and directors, and you’ll get a picture of a still-overwhelmingly male-dominated world. I’m kind of stunned.)