Fantagraphics and Anders Nilsen’s Tongues Supplement #1 (No Miracles) won big at the annual Ignatz Awards, presented on September 13 at the Small Press Expo (SPX) in Bethesda, Md., with the publisher and the comic each cinching two categories. Self-publishers dominated the remaining categories, with the exception of San Francisco-based Silver Sprocket, which won Outstanding Story for Leo Fox’s Boy Island.

The Ignatz Awards were launched in 1997 by SPX to honor the work of indie comics and graphic novel creators whose work “challenges popular notions of what comics can achieve, both as an art form and as a means of personal expression.”

Fantagraphics, the Seattle-based alternative comics publisher, came out on top after a strong showing at this year’s Eisners, with Kayla E.’s debut Precious Rubbish taking home Outstanding Graphic Novel and Julia Gfrörer’s World Within the World, which compiles a decade of horror-tinged work from the previous Ignatz nominee, winning Outstanding Collection.

Published as an accompaniment to his graphic novel saga Tongues (Pantheon), Tongues Supplement #1, a slim work Nilsen put out through his own publishing venture, No Miracles, was recognized with Outstanding Artist and Outstanding Comic.

Other notable wins included Vicky Yang’s self-published graphic novel Unmoored in the category of Promising New Talent, and Sanika Phawde’s Wedding Juice for Outstanding Series. This year’s ceremony also featured a keynote address by cartoonist Mimi Pond, author of the new graphic biography Do Admit (Drawn & Quarterly).

The full list of winners is below:

  • Outstanding Anthology: Rust Belt Review vol. 6 by Sean Knickerbocker (Self-Published)

  • Outstanding Artist: Tongues Supplement #1 by Anders Nilsen (No Miracles)

  • Outstanding Collection: World Within the World by Julia Gfrörer (Fantagraphics)

  • Outstanding Comic: Tongues Supplement #1 by Anders Nilsen (NoMiracles)

  • Outstanding Graphic Novel: Precious Rubbish by Kayla E. (Fantagraphics)

  • Outstanding Minicomic: Allodynia by Violet Kitchen (Self-Published)

  • Outstanding Online Comic: Home by the Rotting Sea by Otava Heikkilä

  • Outstanding Series: Wedding Juice by Sanika Phawde (Self-Published)

  • Outstanding Story: Boy Island by Leo Fox (Silver Sprocket)

  • Promising New Talent: Unmoored by Vicky Yang (Self-Published