Eisner Hall of Fame award-winning creator Jim Steranko will be making an appearance at the 9th annual Inkwell Awards that will be presented June 17-19 at Heroes Con in Charlotte, NC.

The Inkwell Awards recognizes one of the most underrated jobs in the industry, that of the inker. It does so with five different categories: Favorite Inker, the “Props” award for under-recognized professionals, the S.P.A.M.I., for Small Press And Mainstream-Independent work, Most-Adaptable Inker and the “All-in-One” for the artist who inks his/her own pencil art.

Thousands of voters visited and voted from April 15-30 at the group’s website to show their support.

The awards ceremony is scheduled for Friday, June 17, 5:00 PM at the Charlotte Convention Center in room 209-210. In addition to Steranko, other speakers include host and presenter Bob Almond, hostess Holly Black as spokesmodel Ms. Inkwell, legendary creator Mike Grell and award-winning author (and Inkwell special ambassador), J. David Spurlock. Announced with the award-winners will be the two recipients of the annual Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame Award and the second recipient of the Special Recognition Award.

The Inkwells will be set up in Artists Alley at table AA-521, offering for donations their new, fifth annual Joe Sinnott Inking Challenge book and plenty of other Inkwells merchandise to help raise much-needed funds. The Inkwell Awards (www.inkwellawards.com) is an official 501(c)3 non-profit organization whose mission is to educate the public and promote the art form of comic-book inking, as well as annually recognize the best ink artists and their work. Now in its ninth year, the organization is overseen by a committee of industry professionals and assisted by various professional ambassadors and numerous contributors. They sponsor the Dave Simons Inkwell Memorial Scholarship Fund for the Kubert School and host the Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame Award.

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