Associate Professor Carol Tilley has been selected to serve on the judging panel of the 2016 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards. Presented annually by Comic-Con International, the Eisner Awards are the industry’s most prestigious, recognizing the best in comics publication, writing, art, and scholarship.
"Many youth services library faculty and professionals hope to serve on one of the 'Big Three' committees—the Newbery, Caldecott, and Printz—but for me, the opportunity to serve as a judge for the Eisner Awards represents a long-time dream, now realized. I look forward to working with my fellow judges to create a ballot that represents the best in comics from 2015," Tilley said.
Tilley and her five fellow judges will meet in April to select nominees for the Eisner Awards ballot from submissions made by the public. Following voting by industry professionals, the winners will be announced at Comic-Con in San Diego on July 22, 2016.
Tilley teaches courses in comics reader’s advisory, media literacy, and youth services librarianship. Part of her scholarship focuses on the intersection of young people, comics, and libraries, particularly in the United States during the mid-twentieth century. Her research has been published in journals including the Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology (JASIST), Information & Culture: A Journal of History, and Children’s Literature in Education. Her research on anti-comics advocate Fredric Wertham was featured in the New York Times and other media outlets.