Revised winners of the inaugural Inkwell Awards have been sent out after founder Tim Townsend recused himself from winning:

The Inkwell Award committee announces with deep regret that founder, Tim Townsend, due to personal reasons has decided to step down from his position and return his awards. Tim has made this decision due to a series of unfounded and malicious personal attacks upon his character and integrity and time constraints which prevent him from giving his fullest attention for the awards for 2009. It is with sadness that the committee have accepted this decision and we wish Tim all the best for the future and hope that he will return to the Inkwell Awards that he helped found in the future. Tim’s input and knowledge have been invaluable and his presence will be both missed and not easily replaced. At this point in time the committee have no plans on searching for a suitable candidate for the vacant spot on the committee.

Due to Tim Townsend returning his awards, some categories have been revised. Please bear this in mind when posting these results. Voting was fierce and an incredible 5,000 votes in total were cast across all the different categories, however clear winners have emerged. Without any further ado, here are the results:


FAVORITE INKER (RETRO)
TERRY AUSTIN (winner-tie)
JOE SINNOTT (winner-tie)
Tom Palmer (runner-up)

FAVORITE INKER (MODERN)
DANNY MIKI (winner)
Norm Rapmund (runner-up)

FAVORITE FINISHER/EMBELLISHER (RETRO)
TOM PALMER (winner)
Joe Sinnott (runner-up)

FAVORITE FINISHER/EMBELLISHER (MODERN)
KEVIN NOWLAN (winner)
Norm Rapmund (runner-up)

MOST-ADAPTABLE INKER
DANNY MIKI (winner)
Tom Palmer (runner-up)

MOST PROLIFIC INKER
DANNY MIKI (winner)
Joe Sinnott (runner-up)

PROPS AWARD
DANNY MIKI (winner)
Mark Irwin (runner-up)

THE CALL OF DUTY AWARD
BOB ALMOND (winner)
Tim Townsend (runner-up)

MVP AWARD
DANNY MIKI (winner)
Tim Townsend (runner-up)

THE JOE SINNOTT AWARD
JOE SINNOTT (winner)
Al Williamson (runner-up)

1 COMMENT

  1. The solution is to give Dan Miki more awards? I don’t know why people were upset with Tim wining. He’s actually a good inker. It’s kind of shame that he swept up so many awards when there are tons of high quality inkers out there that don’t get the recognition.

    I think people don’t realize how much an inker can change the work or even a colorist. To see something like that in action, take a look at New Avengers Annual #1. The book has the same penciler but something like 6 inkers and 3 colorists, and it makes each page look drastically different.

    Was the 5,000 out of industry folks or out of fans? There website is really kind of hard to find information off. It’s pretty geocities 1996.

  2. I admire these guys for trying to put together an award for inkers, particularly since we continued to be ignored or misunderstood by the industry’s other major awards.

    Unfortunately, I think the Inkwells demonstrate that putting together any kind of award is tougher than it appears. It takes a lot of work, and a lot of careful planning.

    In the case of the Inkwells, it was my impression that the original announcement was fine. Then, the deadline came and went, with no announcement. After a couple months of nothing, we got the announcement of the awards, and half or more of them go to the same few guys, including some who were instrumental in creating the award. Best intentions or not, it just doesn’t look great.

    Of course, they can only tabulate the votes that came in, and I’m positive that the votes were counted as they were cast. It seems like votes only came from specific group of fans. There are tons of really great talents working as inkers, and handing out the trophies to just a few of them doesn’t do the craft justice.

    That said, congrats to all who won, and my best to those who helped put this together. I know it was hard work. Good luck if you guys decide to go forward and try this again.

    Anj

  3. The revised awards press release stated: “Tim has made this decision due to a series of unfounded and malicious personal attacks upon his character and integrity”

    Really?

    Maybe I don’t frequent the right Web sites, but I never saw anyone make personal attacks against Tim Townsend regarding the initial Inkwell Awards results.

    What was questioned (and questioned very legitimately) was the APPEARANCE of a conflict of interest in the awards process by having an individual on the awards committee nominated, and then selected, for multiple awards.

    The solution, of course, is to have people on the awards committee who are prominent in the comics industry, but are not inkers. That way, there is no way an awards committee member can be nominated and possibly win.

    The PROCESS was flawed, not Tim Townsend.

    As I said previously, I think Townsend is a great inker. He no doubt deserved to win. What baffles me is that no one on the committee thought this might be an issue should ANYONE on the awards committee be nominated and win. That’s Conflict of Interest 101 stuff.

    One more thing: As someone who has been inking for more than 35 years, I appreciate – probably more than most – the effort and skill that goes into the inking process.

    Some of my favorite inkers (in no particular order) are: Joe Sinnott, Russ Heath, Mark Farmer, Wally Wood, Hilary Barta, George Klein, Bernie Wrightson, Chic Stone, John Severin, Bill Elder, Frank Giacoia, Steve Ditko, Dick Ayers, Kurt Schaffenberger, Terry Austin, Dan Adkins, Jerry Ordway, Tom Palmer, Eric Powell, Will Eisner, Carl Barks, Bob Montana, Johnny Craig, Walt Kelly, Basil Wolverton, Mike Ploog, Dan DeCarlo, Joe Maneely, C.C. Beck, Bill Everett, Syd Shores, Russ Manning, Frank Cho, Dave Stevens, Jim Engel, Bob Oksner, Mike Royer, Nestor Redondo, Brian Bolland, Jim Lee and Dick Sprang.

  4. Tim took the hit, and I STILL don’t see here that I have won.
    DISAPoinTing!
    Next year Aaron Sowd and I are teaming up our votes and running as one person – Scaar Sowblish – next years winner – you heard it here first!

  5. Hey guys~ I really appreciate the kind words and support. I wasnt going to comment on any of this and just let it die down but Im now thinking a couple of thoughts might sqaure this away for everyone. I was, in fact, attacked publically. I was called a “hucksterer” amongst other things. Its all a matter of public record so, to the on-line “journalists” who seem to think “if I didnt see it, it didnt happen”, do your research. Better yet, dont bother. Its a non-issue. The person who started this has since publicly and privately apologized and rethought his approach on the matter. I accepted and we have moved on. No worries there.
    The reason I decided to step down was simple. Aside from the name-calling, I felt that the people who were seeing a conflict of interest had a valid point. In fact, Id offered to step down before the results even went public. The committee declined my offer. We all naively felt that our reputations and simple good will would prevail and that this alone would put aside any of the potential negativity. WE WERE WRONG. This isnt to say that I or they are putting the onus on any of the people who pointed this out. This was OUR bad. So, instead of allowing things to degenerate any further, I decided to simply step aside in hopes of getting the focus back on what mattered, the award itself and what it stands for. Im no martyr and this wasnt some public play for sympathy. It was just simple logic and the right thing to do.
    Im very grateful to have recieved the votes regardless of the outcome. This is what meant the most to me and I dont need a trophy on my shelf to validate me. I just really appreciate everyone who took the time to vote for me and all the other DOZENS of nominees.
    Finally, a thought on the voting process itself. Im really puzzled when I see people commenting on who could have or should have won. I realize its not much fun for the audience when only a few guys win a bunch of awards but it was out of our hands. We tried out a pure voting process, open ballots, anyone votes for anyone. Its as simple as it gets. The names you see got the most votes. When I bowed out the award went to the next highest vote getter. Its not rocket science. We put the word out far and wide and relied on word of mouth from friends and colleagues. This was only the first year so it was bound to have a limited reach. Maybe you could give it time to get some legs under it instead of passing judgement at this early stage in the game. We, they, are really trying hard to do something good for our community. Its nothing but good intentions. Maybe some of you can remember that and try to help elevate the event. Spread the word. Vote next year. Tell your friends to vote. Each year is bound to get better.Heaven knows next year will be.

    Again, thanks to friends and fans.

    Best to all~

    Tim Townsend