IDW Wins Another Gem Award!

Thursday, April 13th, 2006 8:41AM CDT

Categories: Comic Book News, Press Releases
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IDW, publisher of the new Transformers comics has won another award. They have won a Gem Award for the third straight year. The Gem Awards are given out by Diamond Comics Distributors. IDW won the award for Comic Book Publisher of the Year Under 5% Market Share.

"San Diego, CA (April 12, 2006)—Earlier this month, Diamond Comics Distributors announced the winners of its retailer-selected, 16th annual Diamond Gem Awards, and once again, IDW Publishing finished at the top.

For the third straight year, IDW collected the Gem Award for Comic Book Publisher of the Year Under 5% Market Share.

The Gem Awards are Diamond's annual recognition of outstanding vendors in the comics industry. Vendors are nominated by a panel of Diamond product specialists on the basis of their overall impact on the industry, while comics and related merchandise are chosen on the merits of their quality, creativity and sales performance. The winners each year are chosen by retailers.

Gem Award nominees are selected by a panel of Diamond product specialists on the basis of their overall impact on the industry, while comics and other related merchandise were chosen on the merits of their quality, creativity and sales performance in 2005. Retailers were able to cast their votes with ballots contained with the February Previews Retailer Order Form, Previews on Windows, Previews for DOS and the Ordering page of Diamond Online's Retailer Services Area.

In 2005, IDW successfully launched a line of comics based on Joss Whedon’s Angel, returned the Transformers to the marketplace, and extended its reinvigoration of horror comics with the throwback magazine, Doomed, among many other accomplishments. Three of IDW’s 2005 releases, Doomed, Smoke, and Heartbreakers Meet Boilerplate, recently received nominations for Eisner Awards, the industry’s top honor.

“We are very proud to receive this award for the third year in a row,” said IDW’s President, Robbie Robbins. “In 2005, we had a very diverse publishing line, from licensed properties like CSI, 24, and Shaun of the Dead, creator-owned books like Easy Way, Night Mary, and our 30 Days of Night series, and art books like Swallow, and Sencilla Fanta. We have tried to service a wide range of fans and to get those fans into the comic book stores. Adding titles like The Transformers, Supermarket, and Ben Templesmith’s Wormwood Gentleman Corpse to that slate has me very optimistic about 2006 and beyond, too. Thanks once again to Diamond and comic retailers for this honor.”

A complete list of the 2005 Gem Award winners is available on the inside back cover of the April issue of Diamond Dialogue, and a PDF of all the winners is available here:

http://www.diamondcomics.com/Gem_Winners/2005_Gem_Award_Winners.pdf"

Credit(s): Diamondcomics.com and Comic News International