Eisner Awards to Inaugurate Posh New Venue
The ceremony for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards has a new home for 2009: The Indigo Room at the recently opened Hilton San Diego Bayfront. The Hilton Bayfront is just south of the San Diego Convention Center, the site of the ceremony for the last several years.
“The Indigo Room is perfect for the Awards,” said Jackie Estrada, the Eisner Awards administrator. “The décor offers both elegance and intimacy, and the audio-visual facilities are state-of-the-art.”
The ceremony will be held on Friday night July 24 of Comic-Con International. The doors will open for VIP seating at 7:30, and general seating will open at 8:15, with the festivities starting at 8:30. Bill Morrison, creative director at Bongo Comics, will again be master of ceremonies, and attendees can expect to see celebrity presenters from the worlds of comic books, graphic novels, TV, and films. Awards will be given out in 26 Eisner categories. In addition, Comic-Con’s own special awards will be presented: the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award, the Russ Manning Promising Newcomer Award, and the Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award.
The Hilton San Diego Bayfront is located at 1 Park Boulevard near Harbor Drive, across the street from PETCO Park, home of the San Diego Padres. It can be reached from both Harbor Drive and the waterfront walkway along the park behind the Convention Center.
The Eisners would not be possible without the generous support of our sponsors. Principal Sponsors for the 2009 Eisner Awards include Gentle Giant, Isotope Comics of San Francisco, Lebonfon Printing, LongBox, and UCLICK. Supporting sponsors are Alternate Reality Comics of Las Vegas, Atlantis Fantasyworld of Santa Cruz, CA, comicsunlimited.com, Diamond Comic Distributors, Flying Colors Comics and Other Cool Stuff of Concord, CA, Mel Thompson and Associates, and mycomicshop.com.
The Eisner Awards are part of, and underwritten by, Comic-Con International: San Diego, a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to creating awareness of and appreciation for comics and related popular art forms, primarily through the presentation of conventions and events that celebrate the historic and ongoing contributions of comics to art and culture.
More information about the Eisner Awards can be found at http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_eisners_main.shtml.
