Inkpot Award

The Inkpot Award is an honor bestowed annually since 1974 by Comic-Con International. It is given to professionals in the fields of comic books, comic strips, animation, science fiction, and related areas of pop-culture, at CCI's annual convention, commonly known as "San Diego Comic-Con". Also eligible are members of Comic-Con's Board of Directors and convention committee.

The recipients, listed below, are known primarily as comics creators (writers, artists, letterers, colorists), editors, or publishers, unless otherwise noted.

Awards by year

Source: 1974-2007, 1974-2011, 1974-2013

1974

Forrest J. Ackerman (magazine editor)
Ray Bradbury (prose writer)
Kirk Alyn (actor)
Milton Caniff
Frank Capra (filmmaker)
Bob Clampett (animator)
June Foray (voice actress)
Eric Hoffman (film historian)
Chuck Jones (animator)
Jack Kirby
Stan Lee
Bill Lund / William R. Lund (actor/writer/founding member of San Diego Comic-Con)
Russ Manning
Russell Myers (creator of 'Broom Hilda' comic strip)
Charles Schulz
Phil Seuling (Comic Art Convention founder)
Roy Thomas
Bjo Trimble (science-fiction fandom figure)

1975

Barry Alfonso (writer/founding member of San Diego Comic-Con)
Brad Anderson
Robert Bloch (prose writer)
Vaughn BodÃ©
Edgar Rice Burroughs (prose writer)
Daws Butler (voice actor)
Richard Butner (Comic-Con Chair-person; no relation to prose writer)
Shel Dorf ('Founding Father' of San Diego Comic-Con)
Will Eisner
Mark Evanier
Gil Kane
Alan Light
Dick Moores
George Pal (filmmaker)
Rod Serling (screenwriter)
Joe Shuster
Jerry Siegel
Barry Windsor-Smith
Jim Starlin
Jim Steranko
Ted Sturgeon (prose writer)
Larry ("Seymour") Vincent (TV horror-movie host)

1976

Neal Adams
Sergio AragonÃ©s
Mel Blanc (voice actor)
Frank Brunner
Rick Griffin
Johnny Hart
George Clayton Johnson (screenwriter)
Vicky Kelso (long-time Secretary of San Diego Comic-Con)
Mel Lazarus
Sheldon Mayer
Dale Messick
Alex NiÃ±o
Don Rico
Don Thompson
Maggie Thompson

1977

Alfredo Alcala
Carl Barks
C. C. Beck
Howard Chaykin
Lester Dent (prose writer)
Jackie Estrada
Hal Foster
Walter Gibson (prose writer)
Jim Harmon (writer/old radio & movie serial historian)
Robert A. Heinlein (prose writer)
Gene Henderson (San Diego Comic-Con's Historian & Director-at-Large)
Michael Kaluta
Joe Kubert
Harvey Kurtzman
George Lucas (filmmaker)
Stan Lynde
Byron Preiss
Trina Robbins
Stanley Ralph Ross
Bill Scott
David Scroggy
Jay Ward (TV producer)
Len Wein

1978

John Buscema
Al Capp
Gene Colan
Gill Fox
Tom French
Steve Gerber
Chester Gould
Burne Hogarth
Bob Kane
Ken Krueger (founding member of San Diego Comic-Con)
Bernie Lansky
Gray Morrow
Clarence Nash
Grim Natwick
Bill Rotsler
Mike Royer
Gilbert Shelton
Dave Sheridan
Bill Stout
Frank Thorne
Boris Vallejo
Mort Weisinger
Elmer Woggon

1979

Craig Anderson
Steve Englehart
Dale Enzenbacher
Kelly Freas
Virginia French
H. R. Giger (painter)
Gene Hazelton
Carl Macek
Victor Moscoso
Larry Niven (prose writer)
Dan O'Neill
Virgil Partch
Jerry Pournelle
Nestor Redondo
Marshall Rogers
John Romita, Sr.
Bill Spicer
Mort Walker
Marv Wolfman

1980

Terry Austin
Murray Bishoff
Pat Boyette
John Byrne
Canadian Film Board
Ernie Chan
Chris Claremont
Shary Flenniken
Mike Friedrich
Rick Geary
Don Glut
S. Gross
Al Hartley
B. Kliban
Jerry Muller
George Olshevsky
Joe Orlando
Fred Patten
Don Phelps
Richard Pini
Wendy Pini
David Raskin
Scott Shaw!
Jim Shooter
John Stanley
B. K. Taylor
Osamu Tezuka
Adam West
Wally Wood

1981

Jerry Bails
L. B. Cole
Jim Fitzpatrick
Dick Giordano
Dave Graue
Paul Gulacy
Mary Henderson
Karl Hubenthal
Bil Keane
Frank Miller
Doug Moench
Monkey Punch
Dennis O'Neil
Gary Owens
Richard Rockwell
Allen Saunders
Julius Schwartz
Mike Sekowsky
Bill Sienkiewicz
Dave Sim
Alex Toth
Morrie Turner
Bill Woggon

1982

Bob Bindig
Brian Bolland
Russ Cochran
David Cockrum
Max Allan Collins
Chase Craig
Archie Goodwin
Mike Grell
Bruce Hamilton
Jack Katz
Howard Kazanjian
Hank Ketcham
Walter Koenig (actor)
Richard Kyle
Lee Marrs
Frank Marshall
John Pound, artist/founding member of San Diego Comic-Con
Tony Raiola
Steven Spielberg (filmmaker)
Leonard Starr
Robert Williams

1983

Douglas Adams (prose writer)
Maeheah Alzmann
Jim Aparo
Don Bluth
Floyd Gottfredson
Norman Maurer
George PÃ©rez
Arn Saba
Dan Spiegle
Joe Staton
James Van Hise
Cat Yronwode

1984

Murphy Anderson
RomÃ¡n ArÃ¡mbula
Greg Bear (prose writer/founding member of San Diego Comic-Con)
Fae (Gates) Desmond, Comic-Con Executive Director
Stan Drake
John Field
Rick Hoberg
Greg Jein
Ollie Johnston
Brant Parker
Robert Shayne (actor)
Curt Swan
Frank Thomas
Jim Valentino
Al Williamson

1985

Brent Anderson
Ben Bova (book/magazine editor)
David Brin
Jack Cummings
Jack Davis
Alan Moore
Dan O'Bannon (filmmaker)
Tom Orzechowski
John Rogers
Alex Schomburg
Walt Simonson

1986

Poul Anderson (prose writer)
Marion Zimmer Bradley (prose writer)
Dave Gibbons
Jean ("Moebius") Giraud
Gilbert Hernandez
Jaime Hernandez
Denis Kitchen
Steve Leialoha
Marty Nodell
Harvey Pekar
Mark Stadler
Dave Stevens

1987

Steve Ditko (see below)
Harlan Ellison (prose writer)
Larry Geeck
Ward Kimball
Deni Loubert
Bill Messner-Loebs
Mike Peters
Bill Schanes
Steve Schanes
Robert Silverberg (prose writer)
Art Spiegelman
Bernie Wrightson
Ray Zone (3-D historian)

Ditko was presented the award in absentia, accepted on his behalf by Renegade Press publisher Deni Loubert, who had published Ditko's World the previous year. Ditko refused the award and returned it to Loubert saying, "Awards bleed the artist and make us compete against each other. They are the most horrible things in the world. How dare you accept this on my behalf".

1988

Frank Alison, Comic-Con Director-at-Large
Robert Asprin (prose writer)
Mike Baron
Lynda Barry
John Bolton
Jules Feiffer
Raymond Feist (prose writer)
Matt Groening
Gary Groth
George R. R. Martin (prose writer)
Mike Pasqua
Steve Rude
Marie Severin
Matt Wagner

1989

Richard Alf (founding member of San Diego Comic-Con)
R. Crumb
Howard Cruse
Kevin Eastman
Lee Falk
Ron Goulart (prose writer)
Walt Kelly
Peter Laird
Syd Mead (industrial designer)
Andre Norton (prose writer)
Jerry Robinson
Diana Schutz
Janet Tait
Ron Turner
Gahan Wilson

1990

Karen Berger
Bob Burden
Tom DeFalco
William Gaines
Jim Henson (puppeteer)
Randy and Jean-Marc Lofficier
Grant Morrison
Bob Overstreet
Mary Reynante
Bob Schreck
Ken Steacy
Rick Sternbach (film/TV illustrator)
Charles Vess

1991

Alicia Austin
Clive Barker (prose writer)
Dan Barry
Dan DeCarlo
Creig Flessel
Neil Gaiman
Ted Geisel (Dr. Seuss)
Keith Giffen
George Gladir
Joe Haldeman (prose novelist)
Lynn Johnston
Carol Kalish
Don Maitz
Sheldon Moldoff
Steve Oliff
Julie Roloff
Stan Sakai

1992

Carina Burns-Chenelle, Comic-Con treasurer
Bob Chapman
Francis Ford Coppola (filmmaker)
Robin Doig
Alan Grant
Bill Griffith
Ray Harryhausen (filmmaker)
Marc Hempel
Jim Lee
Milo Manara
Scott McCloud
Todd McFarlane
Rowena Morrill (book/magazine illustrator)
Diane Noomin
Louise Simonson
Dick Sprang
Vernor Vinge (prose writer)
Mark Wheatley

1993

Gary Carter (comics historian)
Phil Foglio
Robert Goodwin
Ferd Johnson
Don Martin
Dave McKean
Clydene Nee
Paul Norris
Paul Power
P. Craig Russell
Mark Schultz
Vincent Sullivan
Michael Whelan (artist)
Roger Zelazny (prose writer)

1994

Mike Carlin
Paul Chadwick
Al Feldstein
Stan Goldberg
Roberta Gregory
Chad Grothkopf
Jerry Ordway
Bud Plant
Mike Richardson
John Romita, Jr.
Richard Rowell
Lucius Shepard (prose writer)
Mickey Spillane (prose writer)
J. Michael Straczynski
Rumiko Takahashi

1995

Roger Corman (filmmaker)
Greg Hildbrandt
Tim Hildebrant
Ryoichi Ikegami
Irv Novick
Joe Sinnott

1996

Donna Barr
Mort Drucker
Joe Giella
Jim Mooney
Kurt Schaffenberger
FranÃ§ois Schuiten
David Siegel

1997

Dick Ayers
Steve Bissette
Terry Brooks (prose writer)
Bob Haney
Russ Heath
Carol Lay
Michael Moorcock (prose writer)
Janice Tobias
George Tuska

1998

John Broome
Eddie Campbell
Nick Cardy
David Glanzer, Comic-Con Director of Marketing and Publicity
Fred Guardineer
Lorenzo Mattotti
Paul S. Newman
John Severin
Joe Simon
Naoko Takeuchi
Mark Yturralde (filmmaker)

1999

Tom Batiuk
Chuck Cuidera
Samuel R. Delany (prose writer)
Arnold Drake
Sam Glanzman
Larry Gonick
Irwin Hasen
Sue Lord, Comic-Con HR/Guest Relations

2000

Will Elder
Ric Estrada, sometimes (incorrectly) referred to as Rick Estrada
Phoebe Gloeckner
Beth Holley, Comic-Con VP, Exhibits
Carmine Infantino
Jack Kamen
Ben Katchor
Harry Lampert
Bryan Talbot
Angelo Torres
Lewis Trondheim

2001

Henry Boltinoff
Irwin Donenfeld
Brian and Wendy Froud
Martin Jaquish, Comic-Con Director-at-Large
Joe R. Lansdale
Spider and Jeanne Robinson (prose writers)
Alvin Schwartz
Jeff Smith
Kim Thompson

2002

Eddie Ibrahim, Comic-Con Director of Programming
Frank Jacobs
Jason
Paul Levitz
Bob Lubbers
Bob Oksner
Lew Sayre Schwartz
Hal Sherman
Herb Trimpe
William Woolfolk

2003

Charles Berberian
Frank Bolle
Sal Buscema
John Davenport, Comic-Con Events staff
Philippe Dupuy
Steve Jackson (games manufacturer)
Sid Jacobson
Larry Lieber
Terry Moore
Howard Post

2004

Jack Adler
Tom Gill
Harry Harrison (prose writer)
Bruce Jones
Batton Lash
Mike Mignola
Bill Plympton (animator)
Frank Springer
John Totleben

2005

Lee Ames
Sy Barry
Taerie Bryant, Comic-Con Fandom Services
Bob Bolling
Bob Fujitani
Dexter Taylor

2006

Peter S. Beagle (Outstanding Achievement in Science Fiction and Fantasy)
Art Clokey (animator)
Luis Dominguez
Basil Gogos
Everett Raymond Kinstler (former comics artist; presidential portrait painter)
Kazuo Koike
Bill Pittman, Comic-Con VP Operations
Yoshihiro Tatsumi

2007

Allen Bellman
RenÃ©e French
Gary Friedrich
Adam Hughes
Miriam Katin
Mel Keefer
Joseph Michael Linsner
David Morrell (prose writer)
Mike Ploog
Mary Sturhann, Comic-Con Secretary
Dan Vado
Mark Verheiden
F. Paul Wilson (prose writer)

2008

Official list

Kyle Baker
Ralph Bakshi (animator)
Mike W. Barr
Ed Brubaker
Kim Deitch
Victor Gorelick
Al Jaffee
Todd Klein (letterer)
Tite Kubo
Noel Neill (actress)
Floyd Norman
Al Plastino
Jeff Watts
Bill Willingham
Connie Willis
Jim Woodring

2009