2025 JUDGES
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2025 JUDGES *
Shazleen Khan
Shazleen Khan is an award-winning illustrator and author based in London, specialising in narrative illustration. Shazleen began self-publishing their comics as a teenager and now works full time as an Illustrator; some of their notable clients include Simon & Schuster, Bloomsbury and Dishoom. Shazleen's works include their Eisner and Harvey nominated illustrator debut graphic novel Saving Sunshine (written by Saadia Faruqi), the upcoming My First Monster (written by Cecil Castelucci) and their self-authored LGBTQ webcomic, BUUZA!!, which was recently won the IGNATZ award for best Online Comic.
Oscar Zarate
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, it was over 50 years ago that Oscar Zarate decided to visit London, where he has lived and worked ever since. He is an award-winning graphic novelist whose books include The Park and Thomas Girtin: The Forgotten Artist (SelfMadeHero). His work includes collaborations with Alan Moore ( A Small Killing), Alexei Sayle (Geoffrey the Tube Train and The Fat Comedian), Carlos Sampayo (Trois Artistes a Paris) and Richard Appignanesi (Introducing Freud and Hysteria). He is now working with different artists and writers on Chamame, a book about the music from his parents’ province in Argentina, and a new graphic novel of his own about xenophobia and racism.
Janette Parris
Janette Parris is an artist who investigates the contemporary urban experience, using narrative, humour and popular formats including soap opera, stand-up comedy, musical theatre, pop music, cartoons, comics and animation. Parris has exhibited widely nationally and internationally at spaces including Tate Britain, Tate Modern and the Ludwig Museum Budapest. In 2023 Parris exhibited in and co-curated Life Is More Important Than Art at the Whitechapel Gallery with Gilane Tawadros. Parris is the founder of Arch, an established comic exhibited in the British Library’s Comics Unmasked in 2014. Parris' artist book This Is Not a Memoir was published by Montez Press in November 2023.
Karrie Fransman
Karrie Fransman’s comics have been published by the United Nations, BBC, Arts Council and British Red Cross, and by The Guardian, Times andTelegraph. She co-created Gender Swapped Fairy Tales (2020) and Gender Swapped Greek Myths (2023, Faber & Faber) with Jonathan Plackett, and two graphic novels The House That Groaned (2012, PRH), and the award-winning Death of the Artist (2015, Cape). She has worked with the British Council, Southbank Centre, Manchester Art Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery. She is a founder of The Comics Cultural Impact Collective (CCIC) promoting the value of UK comics and is Creative Director at PositiveNegatives.org using comics to amplify academic research.
Emma Hayley
Emma Hayley launched SelfMadeHero in 2007, after spotting a gap in the market for high quality graphic novels. Since then, SelfMadeHero has become the UK’s leading independent graphic novel publisher. After creating the successful Manga Shakespeare series, she was named UK Young Publishing Entrepreneur of the Year, as part of the 2008 British Book Industry Awards. In 2021, she launched the Arts Council-backed Graphic Anthology Programme to mentor and publish artists from diverse backgrounds. In 2023 she became the publishing partner of the First Graphic Novel Award.