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The Excelsior Award 2021

The Weirn Books by Svetlana Chmakova, published by Yen Press, have been picked as the overall winner for the Excelsior Award 2021. The Excelsior Award is the only nationwide book award for graphic novels and comics, judged by kids aged 11-18, from over 200 schools.

Jump to:
Excelsior Award White Winner and Shortlist 9+ KS2
Excelsior Award Blue Winner and Shortlist 11+ KS3
Excelsior Award Red Winner and Shortlist 14+ KS4
Excelsior Award Black Winner and Shortlist 16+ KS5

The Excelsior Award 2021: Excelsior Award White

Winner: The Weirn Books - Be Wary of the Silent Woods Book 1

In the Night Realm, vampires, shifters, weirns, and other night things passing for human prowl the streets... but they still have to go to school! Ailis and Na'ya are pretty average students (NOT losers), but when a shadow starts looming and a classmate gets all weird, they are the first to notice. It gets personal, though, when Na'ya's little ...

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Shortlisted Books

Bluebeard

Metaphrog

Paperback

In Stock

£17.09 £18.99

The Excelsior Award 2021: Excelsior Award Blue

Winner: Canto, Volume 1: If I Only Had a Heart

Enslaved for generations, Canto’s people once had hearts. Now they have clocks. They are forbidden to love, yet Canto loves a little tin girl. When slavers damage her clock beyond repair, Canto embarks on an incredible journey through his strange and fantastic world to bring back her heart. Canto is an all-ages adventure for past and present generations ...

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Shortlisted Books

The Excelsior Award 2021: Excelsior Award Red

Winner: Absolute Carnage

Cletus Kasady is back, and he’s deadlier than ever. On a hunt for every Super Hero in the Marvel Universe who has worn a symbiote, Carnage has his eyes on his first victims…starting with some of our favorite Marvel heroes. Everyone is a target!

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Shortlisted Books

The Excelsior Award 2021: Excelsior Award Black

Winner: Pulp

One part thriller, one part meditation on a life of violence, Pulp is unlike anything award-winning Brubaker & Phillips have ever done before. This celebration of pulp fiction set in a world on the brink is another must-have hardcover from one of comics' most acclaimed teams.

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Shortlisted Books

Alienated

Simon Spurrier

Paperback

In Stock

£13.49 £14.99

I Don't Know How to Give Birth!

Ayami Kazama

Paperback

In Stock

£11.69 £12.99

The Excelsior Award is the only award in the UK to recognise, support and honour graphic novels and comics and is divided into four shortlists; 

Excelsior Award White Winner 9+ KS2

The Weirn Books Book 1 - Be Wary of the Silent Woods by Svetlana Chmakova

And the shortlist included:

Bluebeard by Metaphrog

Mason Mooney Paranormal Investigator by Seaerra Miller 

Excelsior Award Blue Winner 11+ KS3

Canto:  If I Only Had a Heart by David Booher & Drew Zucker

And the shortlist included:

Doctor Doom Vol. 1: Pottersville by Christopher Cantwell & Salvador Larroca

Im : Great Prince Imhotep by Makoto Morishita

Excelsior Award Red Winner 14+ KS4

Absolute Carnage by Donny Cates & Ryan Stegman

And the shortlist included:

Strange Skies Over East Berlin by Jeff Loveness & Lisandra Estherren

New Mutants by Jonathan Hickman, Ed Brisson & Rod Reis

Excelsior Award Black Winner 16+ KS5

The books on this shortlist might include moderate swearing and moderate violence, akin to a 15-rated movie.

Pulp by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips

And the shortlist included:

Alienated by Simon Spurrier & Chris Wildgoose

I Don't Know How to Give Birth by Ayami Kazama

All schools taking part in the judging process were encouraged to read and rate the books, then submit their marks online. The winning titles were announced at a special ceremony online in September 2021.

Read about the entry and voting process here.