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DENVER, April 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Pop Culture Classroom (PCC), the educational nonprofit behind Denver Pop Culture Con (DPCC) and Reno Pop Culture Con, today announced the Category Finalists for the 2019 Excellence in Graphic Literature Awards (EGL Awards).

As part of its educational mission, PCC created the EGL Awards to help drive growth for the graphic novel format by increasing awareness, legitimacy and respect for the medium, its publishers and its creators.

The first awards ceremony took place on June 16, 2018 at Denver Comic Con (now Denver Pop Culture Con), honoring books published in 2017.

All 2019 winners, including recipients of the Book of the Year and Mosaic awards, will be announced at the EGL Awards Ceremony scheduled to take place at DPCC on Saturday, June 1.

After careful consideration, PCC chose to not announce finalists for the Book of the Year and Mosaic awards prior to the ceremony to avoid speculation and assumptions on which titles may have won in each of the judging categories listed below.

"It is my great honor and privilege to unveil the Category Finalists for 2019, our second year of the Excellence in Graphic Literature Awards," said PCC Director of Education Dr. Katie Monnin. "We'd like to express our deepest thanks and congratulations to the nominees, to our esteemed judging committees, to our advisory board, and to all the creators, editors, and publishers who submitted entries."

Finalists: Best in Children's Graphic Literature

Fiction

• Dog Man: Lord of the Fleas (Dog Man #5) by Dav Pilkey (Graphix)
• Dragon Slayer: Folktales from Latin America by Jaime Hernandez (TOON Graphics)
• Petals by Cris Peter & Gustavo Borges (KaBOOM!)
• Small Things by Mel Tregonning (Pajama Press)
• Tiger vs. Nightmare by Emily Tetri (First Second)

Nonfiction

• Little Tails Under the Sea by Frédéric Brrémaud, Federico Bertolucci (Lion Forge)
• Mushroom Fan Club by Elise Gravel (Enfant)
• Snails Are Just My Speed by Kevin McCloskey (TOON Books)
• The Eye That Never Sleeps: How Detective Pinkerton Saved President Lincoln by Marissa Moss and Jeremy Holmes (Abrams)
• We Are All Me: TOON Level 1 by Jordan Crane (TOON Books)

Finalists: Best in Middle-Grade Graphic Literature

Fiction

• Be Prepared by Vera Brosgol (First Second)
• Cardboard Kingdom by Chad Sell (Knopf Books for Young Readers)
• Crush by Svetlana Chmakova (Yen Press)
• Hidden Witch by Molly Knox Ostertag (Graphix)
• Sheets by Brenna Thummler (Lion Forge)

Nonfiction

• Action Presidents #1: George Washington! by Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey (Harper Collins)
• Lafayette! (Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales #8): A Revolutionary War Tale by Nathan Hale (Harry N. Abrams/Amulet)
• Ocean Renegades! (Earth Before Us #2): Journey through the Paleozoic Era by Abby Howard (Harry N Abrams/Amulet)
• Stinky Cecil in Mudslide Mayhem! by Paige Braddock (Andrews McMeel Publishing)
• The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler by John Hendrix (Harry N. Abrams/Amulet)

Finalists: Best in Young Adult Graphic Literature

Fiction

• Illegal by Eoin Colfer (Sourcebooks Jabberwocky)
• Manga Classics: Macbeth by Crystal S. Chan (UDON Entertainment)
• Monstress, Volume 3 by Marjorie Liu (Image Comics)
• On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden (First Second)
• The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang (First Second)

Nonfiction

• Anne Frank's Diary by Ari Folman (Pantheon)
• Grand Theft Horse by G. Neri (Lee and Low Books)
• Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett J. Krosoczka (Graphix)
• Strange Fruit, Volume II: More Uncelebrated Narratives from Black History by Joel Christian Gill (Fulcrum Publishing)
• The Unwanted: Stories of the Syrian Refugees by Don Brown (HMH Books for Young Readers)

Finalists: Best in Adult Graphic Literature

Fiction

• A Sea of Love by Wilfrid Lupano and Gregory Panaccione (Lion Forge)
• Berlin by Jason Lutes (Drawn and Quarterly)
• Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles by Mark Russell and Mike Feehan (DC Comics)
• Infidel by Pornsak Pichetshote and Others (Image Comics)
• Upgrade Soul by Ezra Claytan Daniels (Lion Forge)

Nonfiction

• Algeria is Beautiful Like America by Olivia Burton and Mahi Grand (Lion Forge)
• All the Answers by Michael Kupperman (Gallery 13)
• Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World by Pénélope Bagieu (First Second)
• Escaping Wars and Waves: Encounters with Syrian Refugees by Olivier Kugler (Penn State University Press)
• Monk!: Thelonious, Pannonica, and the Friendship Behind a Musical Revolution by Youssef Daoudi (First Second)

About the Excellence in Graphic Literature Awards

The Excellence in Graphics Literature program was begun by Pop Culture Classroom to help define and grow needed awareness for quality graphic literature; expand legitimacy and respect for the format, the medium, and its creators; and drive growth for the graphic novel publishing category.

The inaugural Awards Ceremony took place at Denver Pop Culture Con (formerly Denver Comic Con) in 2018, keynoted by legendary musical artist and comics creator Darryl McDaniels of Run-DMC.

The first winners in each category were officially announced at the event in front of a packed house that included the honorees, representatives of the respective book publishers, industry luminaries, and fans.

About Pop Culture Classroom

Founded in 2011, Pop Culture Classroom is on a mission to ignite a love of learning, increase literacy, celebrate diversity and build community through the tools of popular culture and the power of self-expression. Each year the organization produces and hosts Denver Pop Culture Con and Reno Pop Culture Con, while also offering a wide-range of low-cost, pop-culture-inspired publications, programming and activities to support teachers and students.

SOURCE Pop Culture Classroom