Jeff Wong sent his nominations for the Bill Finger Award and asked…
I understand that a lot of people who suggest names have odd definitions of what it means to be "unrewarded" or "unrecognized" but I wonder what your definitions are.
Hmm. Good question. Well, "unrecognized" would have a lot to do with doing tonweights of work, especially exceptional work and rarely if ever getting your name on it. This is not much of a problem for those of us who got into comics after about 1970 and an almost non-existent problem since about 1980. But Bill Finger, to cite the gent this award is meant to honor, probably didn't get a credit of any sort on 98% of all the comics he wrote. He was the main Batman writer and as far as I know, the one instance in his lifetime of him seeing his name on a Batman story he wrote came when he co-wrote an episode of the Adam West Batman TV show. His name is now affixed to reprints and he may have seen some of that before he passed away in 1974 but he sure didn't on the first printings. When we gave the award last year to Del Connell, that would be a great example of applying that definition of "unrecognized." He was probably one of the ten or so most prolific writers of comics that ever lived but he only got credit on less than 1% of his output.
Of course, "unrecognized" can also apply to someone who did get credit and just didn't get enough attention or notice for the work. I think that's what the committee had in mind when it selected Frank Jacobs two or three years back. And as we continue to present the non-posthumous award in coming years, I assume that's the definition that will prevail. (Nothing at all against Stan Lee but I still don't understand why every year when I solicit nominations, a lot of people nominate him. Some do seem to think it's a trophy for Best Writer.)
"Unrewarded" is kind of a financial consideration. Again, Bill Finger worked in comics when they didn't pay that well and — in part because of the lack of credits — didn't lead to much else but writing more comics for mediocre money. Today, you can parlay acclaimed comic book work into other, more lucrative media gigs. You can also in some situations make a lot of money doing comics in the first place. So we're looking for the folks who perhaps didn't or haven't achieved those kinds of rewards. Admittedly, it's subjective and there are rewards of a non-monetary nature to consider. But no matter who's been on our judging committee, I haven't seen a lot of agonizing over this aspect of the award or even the other part. Everyone seems to understand that Mr. Finger didn't get the recognition he deserved or the remuneration and it is in that spirit that we give out this honor.
We've had some excellent names suggested…so many that I wish we could give out a dozen Finger Awards this year. The judges' selections will be announced in about two weeks and if your nomination ain't among them, fear not. There's always, as they say in baseball, next year.