(FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: New Bedford, MA/USA—July 21, 2025) The Inkwell Awards has announced the winners of its 18th seasonal awards for excellence in the comic-book inking art form.
Nominees were chosen by a separate and independent nomination committee based on their own research as well as from artist submissions. Voting by professionals and fans took place for two weeks from March 23 to April 6 on the official ballot at the non-profit advocacy’s website. After 5508 ballots were tallied (up from 1365 the previous year), one winner was chosen in each of five categories for 2024 release-dated interior American published comic-book material. This year’s results were announced at the new convention host venue the Hershey Comic Con for their second live awards ceremony making this overall the 11th such ceremony to date. This year, and probably the template going forward, we will announce the winning results in 3 parts: the ballot winners and internal awards (this very one), the lifetime achievement award recipients and the extended version of the ballot awards with much more info, video and acceptance statements.
The winners are listed below in bold with their credits, votes and the percentage of votes received, along with the other nominees in alphabetical order.
FAVORITE INKER (Favorite ink artist over the pencil work of another artist; cannot also be nominated for the “Props” award): Elisabetta D’Amico (406 votes, 33%): Star Wars: High Republic Adventures, The Midnight Shadows [Dark Horse]; Avengers Assemble, Giant-Size Spider-Gwen, NYX, Spider-Gwen: Smash, Xmen: Bloodhunt- Jubilee [Marvel]
Other nominees: Eber Ferreira, Don Ho, Pedro Marasco, Danny Miki, Wade von Grawbadger
MOST-ADAPTABLE (Artist showing exceptional ink style versatility over other pencilers): Elisabetta D’Amico (519 votes, 48%): Star Wars: High Republic Adventures, The Midnight Shadows [Dark Horse]; Avengers Assemble, Giant-Size Spider-Gwen, NYX, Spider-Gwen: Smash, Xmen: Bloodhunt- Jubilee [Marvel]
Other nominees: Tony Kordos, Andrew Pepoy
PROPS AWARD (Inker deserving of more attention. The same inker cannot be nominated for this award and Favorite Inker; nor past Favorite Inker recipients): Adriano di Benedetto (512 votes, 50%): Batman [DC]
Other nominees: Jeff Graham, Tony Kordos
The S.P.A.M.I. AWARD (Small Press And Mainstream Independent, non-Marvel or DC work): Tony Kordos (405 votes, 40%): G.I. Joe: ARAH [Image/Skybound]; Forgotten Runes: Wizard’s Cult [Titan]
Other nominees: Jeff Graham, Andrew Pepoy, LeBeau Underwood
ALL-IN-ONE AWARD (Favorite artist known for inking his/her own pencils): Chris Samnee (372 votes, 33%): Batman & Robin: Year One [DC]
Other nominees: Nick Dragotta, Geof Isherwood, Tony Parker, Mike Perkins
Full acceptance statements from the award recipients and much more can be found in the EXPANDED 2025 Winners Results article later this week and they will be found in the “Award Recipients” section of the Inkwell Awards’ website in the near future. The Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame Award and the Stacey Aragon Special Recognition Award (SASRA), will be announced shortly.
And here are the Inkwell Internal Awards.
This year one Silver Inkwell award recipient received it due to his 17 years of services as a voluntary senior contributor, Damon Owens. Steven Bearfield, one of last year’s Silver Inkwell recipients was in attendance to present Damon his award. Damon was not able to appear at the ceremony.
The two Above & Beyond Award recipients were presented by one of the first Above & Beyond Awards recipients in 2018, Hailey Skaza-Gagne to Richard Boom and First Comics News, but neither was able to attend. Richard was recognized “For selfless dedication to crowd sourcing fundraising projects to support the Inkwell Awards” and he was another source of funds for us to attend Heroes Con. First Comics News, owned by Rik Offenberger, was recognized “For consistently reporting ALL Inkwell news since 2012”, often the only source to do so.
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL WINNERS!!
The Inkwell Awards is the only official 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is to promote and educate regarding the art form of comic-book inking, as well as annually recognize the best ink artists and their work. Established in 2008, the Inkwells are overseen by a volunteer committee of industry professionals and assisted by various professional ambassadors and contributors. They sponsor the Dave Simons Inkwell Memorial Scholarship Fund for the Kubert School and host the Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame Award. Their current host show is the Hershey Comic Con since 2024.
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