Recap and Winners of the 2026 Graphic Novel Making Contest

Event Photos Event Video Graphic Making Novel Contest Website

Graphic Novel Making Contest 2026

The annual Graphic Novel Making Contest Awards Ceremony was hosted by San José Public's Information Manager, Elizabeth Castañeda, at the Rotunda at the San José City Hall on September 19, 2026. This year’s contest featured 275 submissions in five age categories.

Throughout the Summer of 2026, the Graphic Novel Making Contest Committee hosted a variety of in-person and virtual programs. These programs were designed to encourage and develop illustrative storytelling to help prepare those wanting to submit an entry to the 2026 Graphic Novel Making Contest do so.

The final program of the Graphic Novel Making Contest was our Awards Ceremony, where we heard from two industry leaders about their journey into graphic novels and comics, as well as sage advice on overcoming difficulties in creativity.

Speakers

Every Awards Ceremony, the Graphic Novel Making Contest Committee strives to bring influential guest speakers to inspire the San José community. Here were this year's guest speakers:

Briana Loewinsohn

Briana began making zines when she was in college in the late 90s/early 2000s. Briana mostly sold them on consignment at bay area bookstores, often making about $1.50 per book for many years. In that time, she also began teaching high school art (in 2006) and had two great kids. It wasn’t until the pandemic that Briana found her voice and confidence as a cartoonist to write a full graphic novel. The book is called Ephemera, which was published in 2023. Finishing Ephemera was so exhilarating that she immediately started writing Raised By Ghosts. Raised By Ghosts won the Harvey Award and the ALA YA Non-Fiction Graphic Novel of the year. It was also nominated for an Eisner. Briana is currently working on a third graphic novel for Fantagraphics.

Thien Pham

Thien Pham is a graphic novelist and educator based in Oakland, CA. He is the author and illustrator of the graphic novel Sumo and the illustrator for the middle-grade graphic novel Level Up, written by Gene Luen Yang. His graphic novel, Family Style, a memoir about his family's immigration to America told through the lens of food, has been on numerous best-of lists, was a finalist for the ALA YALSA Excellence in Non-Fiction, and won an Eisner Award for Best Memoir Graphic Novel. Pham is also the illustrator for the recurring food article on KQED “Midnight Diners”. His Latest book, which he illustrated, is Mind vs. Machine, written by Steve Sheinkin and Maurice Ashley, and will be released September 9th. Currently, Pham is working on his next graphic novel, teaching, and eating. A lot. Follow Thien on Instagram @thiendog

Winners of the 2026 Graphic Novel Making Contest

All Entries can be found on BiblioBoard.

2026 Entries

And now, we are pleased to announce the winners of the 2026 Annual Graphic Novel Making Contest by age category:

Child (0-7)

First Place: Eha Anantharaj for Slipper and Shoe ( A mix and match story)
Second Place: Juno Ma for Meet Over the Rainbow
Third Place: Taylor Chen for The Unicorns Adventure
Honorable Mention: Albert Yang for The Newbie Who Played Baseball
Honorable Mention: Eurielle Sebastian for Yuyu and The Golden Rainbow

Child (8-9)

First Place: Dev Chang for Colossal Squid and Nauty Explain Global Warming
Second Place: Luke Ma for My Friend: The AI Machine
Third Place: Nalu Marcos for Fantasy Quest
Honorable Mention: Sarah Gupta for Soap Squad
Honorable Mention: Charlie Townzen for Rufous and Beeny

Pre-Teen (10-12)

First Place: Vivian Hoang for Unicron and the soup gone wrong
Second Place: Benjamin Tu-Bi Nguyen for Dumpling Domination
Third Place: Candice for Unsuspecting Right?
Honorable Mention: Ruana Pal for The Pond's Secret Hero
Honorable Mention: Khushi Somesh for The night nobody scrolled

Teen (13-17)

First Place: Lukas Forman for Monomythic
Second Place: Phoenix Smith for Afterimages
Third Place: Miu (Kim) Lam for Now
Honorable Mention: Laura for The Price of Victory
Honorable Mention: Emma Jadczak for The Adventure of One Magic Cat

Adult(18+)

First Place: Mathia Soulouman Bender for FETCH!
Second Place: Melanie Resendiz Carrilo for Faded Memories
Third Place: phantome for Chrysalis
Honorable Mention: Basil Vesca for Foreman Skib and the Big Red Button

Sponsors & Special Thanks

A big thank you to this year's generous sponsors! Thanks to our sponsors, we were able to provide every participant with a participation gift and winners with prize bundles.

A special thank you goes out to our Community Judges and San José Public Library staff who helped make this contest a success!

Get Ready for Next Year

It's never too early to start to think about preparing for the Graphic Novel Making Contest next year. Read these graphic novels picked by SJPL staff members to get inspiration.

SJPL Staff Picks