Nate Won the Russ Manning Award!

From the Eisner Awards Website:

Nate Simpson, artist of Nonplayer(published by Image), was the recipient of the 2011 Russ Manning Promising Newcomer Award (commonly referred to as The Manning Award) as part of the 2011 Eisner Awards held Friday, July 22nd, as part of Comic-Con International: San Diego, North America's largest comic book and popular arts convention.

The Manning Award has been given out annually at the San Diego Comic-Con since 1982. It is presented to a comics artist who, early in his or her career, shows a superior knowledge and ability in the art of creating comics. It is named for Russ Manning, the artist best known for his work on the Tarzan and Star Warsnewspaper strips and the Magnus, Robot Fighter comic book. Russ was a popular guest at the San Diego convention in the 1970s. The first recipient of the award was former Manning assistant Dave Stevens. Other past recipients include Jan Duursema, Steve Rude, Scott McCloud, Art Adams, Eric Shanower, Dan Brereton, Jeff Smith, Gene Ha, Alexander Maleev, Goran Sudzuka, Eric Wight, David Petersen, Cathy Malkasian, Eleanor Davis, and Marion Churchland.

The 2011 nominees were:

• Janet Lee, artist of Return of the Dapper Men (published by Archaia)
• Adam Hines, writer/artist of Duncan the Wonder Dog (published by AdHouse)
• David Marquez, writer/artist of Days Missing and Syndrome (published by Archaia)
• Paul Roman Martinez, artist of Adventures of the 19XX (published by Kopetkai)
• Nate Simpson, artist of Nonplayer (published by Image)

Thanks guys!