The award in honor of the Batman co-creator is for Excellence in Comic Book Writing and will be presented at this year's Comic-Con International in San Diego.
From the press release:
The first annual Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing will be given at this summer’s Comic-Con International: San Diego. The award will go to an individual for his or her lifetime contributions to the art of comic book writing.
Jerry Robinson spearheaded creation of the award to honor his friend and co-worker Bill Finger, who wrote the first Batman stories and created much of the Batman mythos in comics’ Golden Age.
Robinson will chair the five-person jury that will choose this year’s recipient. The other members of the jury are comics writer and historian Mark Evanier, cartoonist/screenwriter/playwright Jules Feiffer, comics writer/editor Denny O’Neill, and comics writer/editor/historian Roy Thomas.
The composition of the jury will change each year.
The first Finger Award recipient will be announced in June, and the award will be presented by Robinson during the Eisner Awards ceremony in San Diego on the evening of July 15. The initial winner will receive a plaque, but plans are for the award to have its own special design in future years. The award will fall under the auspices of Comic-Con International and will be administered by Eisner Awards administrator Jackie Estrada.
The first year of the award will be underwritten by DC Comics; sponsorship will be open to other companies in future years. In supporting the award, DC Publisher Paul Levitz says, “I grew up loving Bill's writing in comics and on TV, without knowing who he was, and then had the privilege of being the person to whom he delivered his very last script. His accomplishments were as oversize as the props he loved to include in his stories."
The jury is currently accepting suggestions for consideration for the award. Any comics writer, living or dead, published in any country, who has produced a significant body of creative comics writing is eligible.
Anyone who would like to suggest nominees for the award can e-mail names to Jackie Estrada (jackiee@mindspring.com), who will pass them along to Robinson.
“Unfortunately, Finger died mostly forgotten and unheralded except among his colleagues and comics historians,” says Robinson. “Establishing this award in his name will help remedy that wrong.”
About Bill Finger:Bill Finger (1914–1974), the unsung hero and co-creator of Batman, scripted the first and many of the best Batman stories during the Golden Age of comic books.
He created many of the series’ most notable characters, including the Penguin, Riddler, Catwoman, and Two-Face, and he made significant refinements to Batman’s concept and persona.
Finger wrote the scripts that introduced the Bat Cave, Batmobile, Batplane, and Batsignal. Many terms he created, such as the Dynamic Duo and Gotham City, have become part of our lexicon.
Finger was a craftsman, and his Batman’s adventures were carefully plotted, as well as being imbued with humor and sprightly repartee. Above all, he was a visual writer—he knew instinctively what the artist could translate into compelling pictures and sequential narrative.
Finger’s comics writing credits include many other DC characters, including the Green Lantern and Wildcat, and many titles for Quality Comics, Fawcett Publications, and Timely Comics. His television credits include episodes of 77 Sunset Strip, Hawaiian Eye, the animated New Adventures of Superman, and the primetime Batman series.
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