(1a) Must have STARTED between November 2007 and December 2008.
Exception: Excludes considerations for “Ugly Duckling Award”, which goes back only one additional year.

(2a) Must still be updating, or properly ended.
(2b) Must not be on an extended or indefinite hiatus, nor should have an abrupt ending (abandoned).

(3a) Must be a NEW comic. Not a Restarted/Relaunched comic.
(3b) Spin-offs and Side Comic to a parent comic should work just fine.

(4) Print comics repackaged for online, only count if the print was created within the time frame.

(5) Must be entirely free-to-read online.

NOTE: Webcomics that started in Nov & Dec 2008 may be eligible for next year if they didn’t make the Finalists this year. Standalone/ShortStory webcomics may also be elibible for next year if they began this year, but did not end until next year.

Ineligibility for 2008 Awards:

(1) Any Webcomic that won a A Webcomic Beacon Webcomic Award the previous year.

(2) Abandoned or indefinitely hiatused webcomics.

(3) Any part of the past or current storyline requires purchase.


Considerations by Judges:

(1) Consider Updates that run THROUGH February 2009, especially for webcomics that started late in the year.

(2) Small Hiatuses should be acceptable, however, update schedule is important.

(3) Winners should be picked based on a consensus, if possible.

Nominations

Nominations begin February 2009. They are combined from Judge nominations and podcast listener nominations.

All Nominations must follow guidelines for eligibility.

We’ll put out a list of known, new webcomics as reported by ourselves and listeners, by the beginning of March 2009.
These are the Eligible Nominations. The next round will be Finalists as decided by the judges.