Sarah Firth’s debut graphic novel Eventually Everything Connects: Eight Essays on Uncertainty (Joan Press, Allen & Unwin imprint) has been honoured with the highest comic arts award in Australia; the Gold Ledger!

The Comic Arts Awards of Australia (formerly known as the LEDGER AWARDS) have been organised to acknowledge excellence in Australian comic art and publishing. The awards were first held in 2005-2007, and are a fully independent initiative; a non-profit dedicated to comics excellence in Australia.

Sarah was thrilled by the decision to award her work – which took eight-years to complete! – with the help of Comic Art Workshop, City of Melbourne, Creative Victoria, Creative Australia, and the UNESCO City of Literature program; all of whom helped her in the funding of grants and opportunities to complete this mammoth book, and further with her promotional tour of North America and Europe following the overseas publication with Graphic Mundi (PSU Press).

Sarah also spoke of the pitching process with agent Danielle Binks, and how after a slew of rejections she came close to burning the entire (and only) manuscript in a bonfire while spending a weekend hiking; until Australian actor, writer and comedian Nakkiah Lui selected it as one of the first titles for her 2020-founded Joan Press imprint with Allen & Unwin – and wanted it precisely because it was “weird” and “hard to describe.”

You can watch the entire 2024 Comic Arts Awards of Australia livestream online, to further celebrate Australia’s talented comics art scene.

Congratulations Sarah and Team (photographed here with comics editor extraordinaire, Eleri Harris!)