Meet the Outstanding Comics Award and All That It Entails: A Talk with Jennie Law

Back in January, a fair number of librarians and children’s/YA book enthusiasts took a little time to watch the American Library Association’s Youth Media Awards for the 2025 publications of the year. It was a delightful experience to see them live and in person once again in the Chicago area. Also delightful? A brand new component to the awards. I don’t know if you noticed but there was a new inaugural award announced: The Outstanding Comics Award or OCA. Divided into three divisions (Adult, YA, and Children’s) and then, from there, into three categories (Fiction, Nonfiction, and Series) this is the first official award to acknowledge the contributions of comics and comic/graphic novel creators by the ALA.

But how much does the average library joe know about this award? With that thought in mind, I decided to go straight to the top. And the top, in this particular case, is none other than Jennie Law, Chair of the American Library Association’s (ALA) Graphic Novels and Comics Round Table (GNCRT) Outstanding Comics Award for Children committee. I figured that if anyone knew how to explain what this award was and its larger significance, it would be she. And Jennie, I am grateful to report, was willing to share what she knows:

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Betsy Bird: Jennie! I can’t thank you enough for taking the time to answer some of my questions today. I think there’s a lot of interest surrounding the GNCRT, particularly now that it’s producing ALA’s first awards specifically intended for comics. Let’s back up a little bit, though. First and foremost, what is the Graphic Novel Comics Round Table at all? 

Jennie Law: Betsy, I’m excited to share more about this cool new award. Thanks for the opportunity! The Graphic Novel & Comics Round Table is a membership unit “dedicated to supporting library staff in all aspects of engaging with graphic novels and comics, including collection development, programming, and advocacy.” (https://www.ala.org/gncrt) In more conversational terms, it’s a subdivision of the American Library Association (ALA) dedicated to the inclusion of comics in libraries/librarianship. 

BB: Very cool. Now how and when did it start? 

Jennie: The group started as the Graphic Novel and Comics Interest Group around 2010 and then became an official ALA around table in 2018. It is my understanding that a core group of comics librarians came together in the mid 2000s with the intention of creating a professional support network. This work led to the interest group and now the officially recognized round table. 

BB: That’s awesome. Tell us a bit about how you got involved.

Jennie: I’d heard about the group for a few years and then attended the board meeting at 2018 ALA annual when the bid to become a round table was being finalized. It was an exciting time. I became a member of the new round table. However, I didn’t volunteer at that time because I was in the middle of a comics history research project. In 2023, I found out they were exploring the establishment of an award, filled out the volunteer form, and was appointed to the GNCRT Award Exploratory Committee. The following year, I was co-chair of the Award Implementation Committee. This work culminated in serving as the chair of the inaugural Outstanding Comics Award – Children’s committee during 2025. 

BB: I feel like that’s great information for folks looking to join committees of their own. Considering the fact that the Round Table is several years old, what was the process that led up to the creation of the Outstanding Comics Award? 

Jennie: The idea of an ALA comics specific award has been a dream for so many of us for years! It has always seemed like a logical addition in order to keep up with the modern reading landscape. 

During the 2023-24 term, GNCRT President Robin Brenner prioritized the development of a GNCRT award and appointed a limited-term committee, known as the Awards Exploratory Committee, to for  preliminary research and planning. At the ALA Annual Conference in 2024, the committee presented a proposal for the GNCRT Outstanding Comics Award, which received approval from the ALA Awards Committee. Following this approval, the 2024-25 GNCRT President Shira Pilarski established an Awards Implementation Task Force to develop and write the necessary processes and protocols for the awards committees. In February 2025, the inaugural Outstanding Comics Award committees started their work for the 2026 awards. 

BB: This is sort of a related question, but it’s something that I’ve been wanting to know for years: How does someone, in this day and age, make a new ALA award? 

Jennie: A LOT of paperwork generated by a lot of excited comics librarians. But, seriously, there is an ALA committee specifically for the coordination and administration of the organization’s awards – the ALA Awards Committee. Getting an award officially established is a multi-year process that goes through them. 

BB: Noted! Some people, hearing about the inaugural Outstanding Comics for Children Awards (can I call them the OCCA?) wondered why the winners weren’t read along with the read of ALA’s winners during the Youth Media Award ceremony on January 26th. Could you speak to why that is, and if that might change in the future?

Jennie: It is my understanding that the Youth Media Awards schedule for their announcement program was already full. Also, we weren’t the only new award that wanted to be included in this year’s announcement. There simply wasn’t room for us this year. I truly hope that changes in the future. Not only so the Children’s and YA winners and honorees can have the thrill of being announced but to further establish and legitimize this new award. 

BB: I could not help but notice that the awards are the Outstanding COMICS Awards, and not “graphic novels”. This would be an intentional choice on the committee’s part. Could you speak a little bit about the choice to use the term “comics” instead, and why that’s important? 

Jennie: Simply said, every title that is eligible is a comic but not every title is a graphic novel. Or said another way, comics collections, collected issues/volumes, and graphic novels are all made up of comics but each of those are publishing formats. So using the word “comics” covers more ground and offers broader eligibility for award consideration. 

BB: Oh! That makes perfect sense. Well, on the heels of that, this is kind of a silly question, but I honestly don’t know the answer. Do the OCA winners get any kind of a sticker at this point? Will they in the future?

Jennie: Yes! We have beautiful awards and honors seals designed by the amazing cartoonist Chris Schweizer! https://www.ala.org/gncrt/awards/ocac-2025

BB: Finally, what would you like people to most know about the OCA? And what is your hope for it in the future? 

Jennie: I believe that we are only able to have this award now because so many high quality comics are being published and so many libraries have developed comics & graphic novel collections. With those foundational factors in place, we can move into new territory such as this new award which celebrates comics in the context of libraries. One especially meaningful aspect of this award is that all contributing creators of a book, such as the colorist, penciler, inker, letterer, and writer, are acknowledged in the award citation. This recognition is a nod to the often collaborative nature of comics creation. 

It may seem as if this award came out of nowhere but it represents years of dedication and work by the GNCRT. We are all so proud to see everyone’s work culminate in the announcement of this year’s inaugural winning and honored books. You can see all of these titles at https://www.ala.org/gncrt/awards

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Big time thanks to Jennie Law for taking so much time, care, and attention in answering my questions today. With so many, as she mentions, high quality comics coming out from publishers today, this award has been too long in coming. Looking forward to those Mock OCAs in the future then!

Go, comics!!

Filed under: Interviews