2025 FIRST GRAPHIC NOVEL AWARD

The 2025 First Graphic Novel Award is for debut authors at any age, 18+: comics creators, cartoonists, or writers and artists who have not previously had a full-length graphic novel published.

The winner will be offered a contract by SelfMadeHero to complete their work for publication and will also be awarded a £500 cash prize sponsored by The bks Agency.

The award is an amazing opportunity for anyone wishing to create a graphic novel for the first time.

The award is a partnership between the Cartoon Museum, the publisher SelfMadeHero, and independent graphic novel editor Corinne Pearlman. The First Graphic Novel Award is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

The award is open for submission from 9 January 2025 until midnight 22 April 2025.

Entrants are required to submit 15-20 pages of a graphic-novel-in-progress, fiction or non-fiction. The panel of judges include publisher Emma Hayley, contemporary artist Janette Parris, and graphic novelists Shazleen Khan, Karrie Fransman and Oscar Zarate.

Longlisted entries will be announced in September 2025 and displayed at the Lakes International Comic Art Festival.

Shortlisted entries will be announced at the Cartoon Museum in October 2025 and displayed at the MCM Comic Con and Thought Bubble Festival in November.

The winner will be announced at an award ceremony at Waterstones Piccadilly in December 2025 and given a £500 prize by The bks Agency. They will be offered a contract by SelfMadeHero, including an advance against royalties, and given editorial and design support to complete their work for publication.

All entrants will receive brief feedback on their work. In addition to the judges’ comments, longlisted entries will be reviewed by literary agent James Spackman at The bks Agency and by chief book buyer Nessa Urquhart at Waterstones.

The biennial award was founded by Myriad Editions in 2012 as the Myriad First Graphic Novel Competition, which was held four times between 2012 and 2020. As well as publishing books by the winners, Myriad also published several shortlisted authors. In 2023, under the new partnership with SelfMadeHero and the Cartoon Museum, the award was won by Alex Taylor, whose graphic novel, Bone Broth, will be published by SelfMadeHero in late 2025.

Special thanks to the Lakes International Comic Art Festival (LICAF) and Thought Bubble Festival, LDComics and the many cartoonist and comic creator networks, fairs and festivals, and individual creators and comics professionals supporting the call for entry.

For details of how to enter and to download an entry form, visit www.firstgraphicnovel.co.uk.