cupcake award
Self-publishing is at the heart of the Chicago Alternative Comics Expo festival and community, and supporting emerging artists and helping them grow is central to our mission. The annual Cupcake Award is a juried prize that supports the publication of a new minicomic by an emerging artist whose work is primarily self-published.
For 2024 we are offering two cupcake awards and due to a generous donation we are upping the award amount from the usual $250 to $400 for each winner!
THIS YEAR’S CUPCAKE AWARD WINNERS
Natalie 麥月明
Natalie 麥月明 (they/them) is Queer Chinese-Canadian artist of Toisan descent who works primarily with narratives. Their work is somewhere between a reflection of life and a little bit curious. Natalie loves going to their neighbourhood library, playing table top games, and making comics!
You can find Natalie’s work on tumblr, instagram, masto.art and bsky.social
ELI ESTRELLA Pérez
Eli Estrella Pérez (she/they) is a second-generation Cuban-American living in the Avondale neighborhood of Chicago. Despite being a newcomer to comics, working in a creative field is very familiar to her; They have been a graphic designer and illustrator for over a decade. Currently, she is pitching her debut graphic novel, which nabbed 1st place at Kids Comics Unite’s 2023 Pitchfest. Their hobbies include survival video games, rollerskating, D&D, and smiling at strangers.
You can find more of Eli’s work on her website.
THIS YEAR’S CUPCAKE MENTORS
Zachary clemente
Zachary Clemente (he/him) is the owner and boss for Bulgilhan Press, a small press comics publisher making new and self-indulgent comics by excellent artists with unique voices & visions. Through Bulgilhan he has published Stray by Molly Mendoza, Die Horny by Rebecca Mock, Far Distant by A Liang Chan, and more. He previously worked on the organizational committee for the Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo (MICE) as their Outreach Co-DIrector but is now serving on the board for MICE's producing arts nonprofit organization, The Boston Comic Arts Foundation as its President.
kat fajardo
Kat Fajardo (they/she) is an award-winning cartoonist and illustrator from the lively and magical place of Loisaida, New York City. Their recent book Miss Quinces, was the first Scholastic Graphix title to be published both in English and Spanish (as Srta. Quinces), earning them a place as a National Indie Bestseller and recipient of the Pura Belpre Honor for illustration. Kat's art is a vibrant reflection of self-acceptance, self-improvement, and Latine culture.
Each winner of the award will receive $400 USD to print a new minicomic, a free half table at CAKE 2024 (where their minicomic will debut), and the support of one Cupcake mentor. In addition, CAKE will promote the winning artists and their minicomics in the leadup to next year’s show.
Applications will open on October 1st and will close on October 31st at 11:59pm CST.
The CAKE organizers will score all applications and then present a list of the highest scoring applications to our Cupcake mentors who will select the two award winners.
Eligibility
Applicants must meet the following eligibility requirements:
Be at least 18 years of age at the time you apply
Be available to attend CAKE 2024 to promote the minicomic supported by the Cupcake Award
Be an artist who has not had a solo work published by a publisher.
Our intention is to support early career comic artists. This is an honor-code application: we will not hunt through your CV to try to disprove your eligibility, so please use your best discretion. If you have work in comics anthologies, have had small freelance comics published in larger publications/platforms or if you have had success with a widely distributed self-published comic, you are eligible; if you have had a book published as a single author by a publisher but you still regularly publish mini-comics, you are not eligible.
While applicants may re-apply every year, they are only eligible to receive the award once.
If you have questions about meeting eligibility, please email us at cupcake@cakechicago.com.
Application Guidelines
Please fill out the form linked below by October 31st, 2023 at 11:59pm CST. The form collects the following information:
Name, address, phone number, email, website, and social media: Collected for administration and contact purposes.
Artist statement and work plan: The artist statement and work plan should include the following information (character limit of 5,000 characters - roughly one single-spaced page):
The content and direction of the comics work you have made to date.
A short pitch for the minicomic you plan to make with the support of the Cupcake Award.
A physical description of the finished comic (size, number of copies, color/non-color, etc.) including rough budget of how the prize money would be used to produce the comic.
One-page artist CV: Your CV should include your most recent creative work and accomplishments to date. Don’t worry if your artist CV is light –- this award is meant for emerging artists! (character limit of 5,000 characters - roughly one single-spaced page)
Work samples: Applicants are required to submit at least one work sample and may submit up to a maximum of 8. We recommend that the majority of your samples are of recent work (within the past 2-3 years) that are sequential in nature, as this is an award intended specifically for the creation of comics. Please provide clickable URLs that do not require special access or passwords. If you are unable to send us URLs, please get in touch with us (cupcake@cakechicago.com).
AWARD HISTORY
The Cupcake award has been awarded annually at each in-person CAKE expo since 2015. This streak was broken when the 2020 - 2022 in-person shows were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, you’ll find our previous winners below and the Cupcake award resumes!
Former winners and mentors are listed below:
Mentor
Winner
Annie Koyama
John Porcellino
Caitlin McGuirk
Edie Fake
Marnie Galloway
Tyrell Cannon
Isabella Rotman
Jim Terry
Zach Clemente
Kat Fajardo
2015 - Sara Drake
2016 - Goda Trakumaite
2017 - Kelly Fernandez
2018 - Adam Griffiths
2019 - Diana Chu
2020 - Joi Yao
2021 - AnneMarie Rogers
2022 - Bread Tarleton
2023 - Natalie 麥月明
2023 - Eli Estrella Perez