A festival for comic book scripts and comic-related media. We are seeking undiscovered talent from all parts of the world. Our goal is to promote voices that need to be heard. Comic book creators can submit scripts with no art, but note - all script submissions MUST BE FORMATTED AS COMIC BOOK SCRIPTS, not film or television scripts.
At the Steelkilt Media Festival, our mission is to shine the spotlight on undiscovered comic book creators and their work, providing a springboard to job opportunities in comics, film, and television. Our goal is to offer a unique chance for comic book creators to get noticed. And we are open to all. We are inclusive - we strive to lower the bar for entry with an open and fair awards program. That's how we, a group of comic writers and publishers, have designed this competition - because we know how hard it is to make it. At Steelkilt, writers and creators from all over the world can submit their work for consideration without having to have prior industry contacts. As the comic book industry gains greater attention due to the popularity of live-action film and television adaptations, we created a transparent and fair way for unpublished and undiscovered talent to be seen.
It's all about you, the creator
The founders of the Steelkilt Media Festival recognized that there’s a world of talent in the comic book industry out there that has yet to be discovered by mainstream comic book readers. Comic book writers with no artist have few to no chances to get noticed. Many awards and competitions for comic book creators are closed to writers, while others have an opaque submission and voting process. Often, a writer has to have the work published to even be eligible for an award. We therefore created the Steelkilt Media Festival so that everyone can have a chance to send in their work to be reviewed by a panel of professional comic book creators.
TO ENTER: submit a project to a main award category. When you submit, you may indicate which sub-awards you'd like to be considered for. You may explain how you qualify for the sub-awards in your cover letter.
Year Zero
This year and every year, the Steelkilt Media Festival is committed to supporting creatives and empowering storytellers of all walks of life. First and foremost, we are a narrative festival that supports storytellers with bold vision and unique voices. We created the Steelkilt Awards so that writers and creators can get noticed. You don’t have to know someone to get your script or story read. The submission process is open to all through FilmFreeway. We particularly seek hidden gems, unknown and unpublished writers and creators, first-time writers and newcomers to comics.
Transparency and fairness are at the heart of our core values. We understand that producing a comic book can be prohibitively expensive for many writers. Most comic book companies won’t read comic book submissions without completed pages of sequential art - putting the writer in the financial-challenging position of having to fund the pitch. Likewise, producing an entire comic book or graphic novel is not economically feasible for most writers, and a financial risk that many are unwilling to take. That’s why our script competition is the heart and soul of our competition. Our student and early bird submission fees are priced as low as $5 to allow anyone to enter the competition. Nothing more than a passion for sequential art and a killer script is needed for those who want to have their work seen. And our ultimate goal is to highlight forward leaning and innovative creators, putting new work into the hands of as many readers as possible through our printed and digital anthologies.
North America's Mixed-Media Festival
We are looking for new talent, period. The competition is open to any individual living in any country. We allow published authors to submit work that has never been seen in recognition of the fact that editorial controls may prohibit them from creating freely. Therefore, both amateur/self published authors as well as professional creators may submit work, and will be judged separately, yet all work must be new and never-before seen. Scripts and comics must not have been published - work that has already been published elsewhere, in any form (including digital), is not eligible for entry.
We do provide waiver codes for creators who are financially disadvantaged. Please see our website for an application for financial assistance.
Online for 2021
The 2021 festival and awards will be online due to the uncertain of the COVID-19 pandemic. Future iterations will be in-person. Your health is important to us, and we will see you in 2022!
SUBMIT YOUR PROJECT TO A MAIN AWARD and, if necessary, let us know which SUB-AWARD category you'd like to be considered for. To submit a project to one of the free sub-awards, just tell us when you submit your project. Make sure to write your justification in your cover letter (the option to add a cover letter appears when you add the project to your cart and checkout. You can type a letter in your word processing software and then cut and paste the text in the cover letter box when you checkout).
Steelkilt gives awards for all winners and all special awards, including cash, online interviews, written interviews, trophies and certificates.
MAIN AWARD CATEGORIES (each category will a winner, second place and third place):
Best ‘one page’ unproduced comic book script (2 tiers, amateur/self-published and professional)
Best single issue unproduced comic book script (2 tiers, amateur/self-published and professional)
Best unproduced graphic novel script (2 tiers, amateur/self-published and professional)
Best comic book trailer, 5 minutes max (2 tiers, amateur/self-published and professional)
Best motion comic, 20 minutes max (2 tiers, amateur/self-published and professional)
Best unpublished one page comic (2 tiers, amateur/self-published and professional)
Best unpublished short comic (2-10 pages) (2 tiers, amateur/self-published and professional)
Best comic book pitch (Title, tagline, logline, 1 page synopsis, and concept art) (2 tiers, amateur/self-published and professional)
Best action figure of an indie title (has points of articulation)
Best statue of an indie character (no articulation)
Special Sub-Awards. You MUST submit a project for a main award, and then select any sub-awards that apply to you or your project upon checkout (there will be a place to input your sub-award request when you checkout). When you checkout, you will be asked if you'd like to add an optional cover letter. If you wish to be recognized for a sub-award category, add details about yourself and why you should be nominated for a sub-award. Note that honorable mention awards are at the sole discretion of the awards committee. The awards committee has the right to select as many sub-award winners, or no winners, as they see fit.
Sub-Awards:
Best minority voice
Best student work
Best indigenous voice
Best female talent
Best solo award
Best new voice
Best LGBTQI work
Best Black-and-White comic
Best environmentally-themed work
Best disability-awareness work
Honorable mention
The option to add a cover letter appears when you add the project to your cart and checkout - just tell us about why are are a good candidate for a sub-award in your cover letter!
Award winners will receive:
Printed copies of the script anthology (for writers)
Printed anthology of the comic anthology (for artists and creative teams)
Trophy (for Steelkilt winners), certificates (for second and third place, and honorable mentions)
Cash (amount to be determined in August)
Written interviews for all winners
Video interviews for first place winners
Promotion through Steelkilt social media sites
Application dates and types:
Early bird, standard entry, and late entry dates
Different categories for amateurs and professionals
Student discounts
Scholarships available for undeserved or financially constrained applicants, minorities, indigenous applicants, or others with special circumstances (please see our website for details).
