SelfMadeHero is a leading independent graphic novel publisher, based in the UK, publishing ground-breaking and beautiful work by authors and artists from across the globe, from the quirky and humorous to the political and profound. We are proud to bring readers graphic novels and visual narratives that provoke, entertain, inspire and inform. Our recent Graphic Anthology Programme (GAP) provided a mentoring and publishing programme bringing attention to the talent of UK-based emerging graphic novelists of colour.

The Cartoon Museum is a London museum of British editorial cartoons, caricatures and comic strips from the 18th Century to the present. We have a collection of over 6,000 original cartoon & comic artworks, and a library of over 8,000 books and comics. The Cartoon Museum’s Learning Programme provides a range of exciting and unique workshops that encourage people to explore their creativity and be inspired by the works in the Museum’s collection. Our shop features work by independent comic artists, cartoonists, and small publishers.

The Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS), who has given a generous grant to support the First Graphic Novel award, is a not-for-profit organisation started by writers for the benefit of all types of writers. Owned by its members, ALCS collects money due for secondary uses of writers’ work. It is designed to support authors and their creativity; ensure they receive fair payment and see their rights are respected. It promotes and teaches the principles of copyright and campaigns for a fair deal. It represents over 120,000 members, and since 1977 has paid over £650million to writers.

The bks Agency, sponsor of the £500 prize for the winning entry, is a Literary Management Agency which now represents over 100 authors, having placed them with publishers all around the world. The agency offers a global reach for sales with decades of knowledge in selling rights across domestic, foreign, audio, film, television and other markets. Projects span a wide range of fiction and non-fiction genres. The bks Agency is part of Midas, the award-winning Books & Arts Communications agency.

The Lakes International Comic Art Festival, often referred to as LICAF, is an annual comics art festival in the Lake District. Established in 2013, the not-for-profit festival takes place for a weekend in October each year, this year in Bowness-on-Windermere from Friday 29 September - Sunday 1 October 2023. LICAF has been generous supporters of the Myriad First Graphic Novel Competitions, providing substantial partnership in 2018 and 2020.

The Thought Bubble Festival is a celebration of all things comics, held across Yorkshire, featuring exhibitions, workshops, screenings, social events and lots more. This year the Thought Bubble Comic Convention will take place on Saturday 11 & Sunday 12 November at the Harrogate Convention Centre where 450+ comic creators will be exhibiting, alongside publishers and retailers, and guests, signings, panels and Cosplay parade.

Myriad started publishing under its own imprint in 2005, growing organically from an packager of infographic atlases to a publisher of literary fiction, graphic novels and feminist nonfiction. From the start, its aim was to seek out home-grown talent and uncovering and nurturing emerging authors. In 2012, under its former Creative Director Corinne Pearlman, it established the First Graphic Novel Competition, a biennial programme that has seen four competitions and ten debut graphic novelists published by Myriad, with several others published elsewhere. It is now run as an independent programme.

LDComics is the largest women-led comics forum in the UK, open to all. We believe in the transformative potential of the comics form to offer wellbeing through making and reading. We plan to unleash the power of comics by providing a platform & opportunities for comic creators to share their work.

VIP Brands Ltd. is dedicated to expanding graphic novel horizons. Through its consulting, translating and agency services it works to have more graphic novels cross borders, in front of readers, circulate in bookshops so that there are more graphic novels in the hands of more people around the world.