First Graphic Novel Award 2025: Meet the Winner! (And a Q&A)

Brigid: saint and goddess. In this memoir, the fight for abortion rights in her homeland of Ireland inspires the author to reconnect with Saint Brigid, and to connect the dots between traditional folklore and modern social justice.

Last night in Waterstones Piccadilly, right where the 2025 First Graphic Novel Award was launched almost exactly a year ago, 2023 award recipient Alex Taylor and Cartoon Museum director Beth Bryan got on stage with ceremony host Alex Fitch to announce this year's winner.

Out of an incredible 220 entrants, a longest of 30, and a shortlist of 6, the graphic novelist only 1 title could go on to win a £500 cash prize sponsored by The bks Agency and a publishing deal with us at SelfMadeHero. That graphic novelist is Hannah McCann, creator of St Brigid & Me!

The following is taken from a series of Q&As with the shortlisted creators, originally published via our newsletter throughout December 2025.

SelfMadeHero: How did you learn about the First Graphic Novel Award? Did you follow the award in 2023, or in its earlier incarnations under Myriad Editions?

Hannah McCann: I’m not sure if it would have been from past Thought Bubble visits, or through the LDComics network, but it’s been something lurking in my consciousness for years as a competition I might, perhaps, maybe, one day apply to – so to be shortlisted is completely stunning!

SMH: What’s a key experience with the comics medium that led you to where you are now?

Hannah: Three distinct moments (sorry if it’s cheeky to pick three!) of encouragement and support from other artists/makers helped me bring this project to life: On the online course, Drawing Graphic Narratives led by Sarah Lightman, we were given space to work on a project throughout the course. Without this structure and dedicated space, I wouldn’t have started it at all.When I worked at Footprint Worker’s Co-operative, we decided to try out holding a ‘crit club’ as all of us were visual artists of one kind or another. Although we only ran one or two sessions, my colleagues Clare and Hils responded with so much encouragement at the first couple of pages of my comic, I felt motivated to keep working on it.My friend Jack Fallows invited me to be part of Leeds Comics Collective, a new group they were setting up with a nice crowd of other comics makers in the Leeds area. I have been persistently supported and challenged by these comics friends to keep drawing and making, even when I lose confidence in myself.

SMH: Has entering this competition helped you learn anything about the comics world that you didn’t know before? Could be something about the scene, the behind-the-scenes, or even your own creative process.

Hannah: It has confirmed something I’ve found through chatting with other artists at fairs over the years (as I used to table for Footprint at zine, book, and print fairs): that the scene is full of really, really lovely sound people, who usually primarily want to encourage more creativity. In terms of my creative process: it was a surprise to me that I was able to pull something together in time to submit to the award! From this confidence boost, I was actually able to push myself to self-publish it as St Brigid & Me Part 1, and print it as a two-colour riso zine. So I need to seek out externally controlled deadlines and boundaries that I can work towards on this and future projects, because I cannot manage my projects alone.

SMH: Submitting for the First Graphic Novel Award requires choosing an extract from a larger, full-length work or to start on a full-length work for the very first time. Have longer-form graphic novels always been your ideal medium? How did you go about choosing the ideal extract?

Hannah: My submission started as a two-page sketched out comic made in response to a brief in the Drawing Graphic Narratives course. I hadn’t done anything long-form before. All advice says: DON’T DO A LONG-FORM COMIC FIRST! My aim was to make it at the very least longer than two pages, and so I submitted about 18 to the competition, and managed to make it 28 for Part 1, with an aim to make it 42-48 pages, but it seems to keep growing! I’m embarrassed to answer the questions about how I chose the extract, but here you go: the extract is basically all that I had done by then. So that was the decision made.

SMH: The First Graphic Novel Award, naturally, welcomes all kinds of newcomers. Whether this is your first full-length graphic novel or not, an early hurdle in any project is knowing how or where to start. What part of this graphic novel did you put to page first? Did you simply start at the beginning, or somewhere else entirely?

Hannah: I think my previous answer answers this too. I started without knowing how long this could be. The opening panels still feel like the natural beginning of this one, no matter what length of a story it rambles off into in the end.

SMH: In a nutshell, what aspect of your work are you most excited for people to experience? This could be anything – visual, narrative, thematic, etc.

Hannah: My hope is that readers will experience a spark of enthusiasm and feelings of connection. It’s what’s at the core of my story: care and connection. And I will be so happy if they like my pencil work too.

SMH: The comics scene is always evolving, but are there any current changes or developments that you find interesting or encouraging? If so, what are they, and what do they mean to you?

Hannah: The Comics Cultural Impact Collective is very interesting to me – I feel like their work does a lot to de-mystify the industry side of comics. I’m always really grateful for the LDComics online meets – being able to connect nationally and internationally without having to pay for travel makes a huge difference. I think there are a lot more opportunities to engage remotely, which can be excellent for all kinds of access needs. I’m also very interested in the Graphic Medicine community and always keen to see what ways comics are being used in this area.

SMH: When it came to the announcement of the longlist and the shortlist, did anything stick out to you about the titles that were selected alongside your own? What impression has that left on you?

Hannah: I’m really happy to see a breadth of different styles of comics, the strong voices of the authors coming through, and beautiful skills in both image making and writing. I love how animal-rich the shortlist is this year! There are personal stories I can’t wait to read in full, and fiction stories that look like they will stay with me for a long time afterward. I really am honoured to be included in this list. I hope it will help me to believe that my work is worth making too.

SMH: Winner or not, where would you like your experience with the First Graphic Novel Award to take you in the future?

Hannah: Deeper and deeper into the world of comics!