For the past four years there’s been the Web Cartoonist’s Choice Awards. The WCCA is to web comics as the Screen Actor’s Guild Awards are to movies. Anyone and everyone (there are some limitations) who has created a web comic is free to nominate and then vote for the most outstanding comic in 26 categories. Plenty of people have commented (Ping Teo, Tycho, Sam Logan, Scott McCloud, etc.) with everyone sort of mixed on the validity of the whole event. The biggest complaint is it’s an award for who has the most fans followed by grumbling that the same strips keep getting nominated.

Despite the whining there seems to be a general acceptance that winning a category says something. Why not? A large number of your peers got together and decided you are the best comic, or the master of flash, or even the funniest strip on the web. It doesn’t matter who you are, getting that kind of recognition is not only good publicity but it just helps reaffirm you’re doing a good job.

This year has the potential to silence the malcontent with such strips as Copper for Outstanding Comic, Sarah Ellerton for Art, and Ryan North for Writing. Every category (except gaming) has at least one if not several strips which don’t get more then 10,000 hits per day while there is one category in particular, story concept, which looks like a fantastic list to have bookmarked. Stay tuned to your favorite podcast for more in-depth coverage.