Munsey Award Archive

On Saturday, July 31, bookseller Mike Chomko was named the winner of the 2010 Munsey Award. Nominated by members of the general pulp community, Mike was selected by a panel of judges consisting of the 25 living Lamont Award winners and last year’s Munsey winner, Bill Thom. The award is a fine art print created by David Saunders, with the help of Dan Zimmer.

Mike has been involved in the pulp hobby for over twenty years, writing his first article for Echoes in the late eighties. In 1995, he launched the pulp fanzine Purple Prose that ran for seventeen issues and published many highly regarded articles about the pulps, including “The Steeger Papers,” the start of a pulp history penned by Popular Publications’ Harry Steeger. He has volunteered at many pulp conventions over the years and is one of the leading distributors of pulp-related publications. With Jack Cullers, Ed Hulse, and Barry Traylor, Mike is one of the organizers of the annual PulpFest .

In receiving his award, Mike thanked his family and all of the people who have helped and mentored him through his years within the pulp community, in particular Jack Cullers, Barry Traylor, and fellow Munsey nominee John DeWalt.

Nominations are now being accepted for the 2011 Munsey Award. If you have someone in mind that you feel worthy to receive the Munsey Award, please let us know. Send the person’s name and a brief paragraph describing why you feel that person should be honored to Mike Chomko, 2217 W. Fairview Street, Allentown, PA 18104-6542 or to mike@pulpfest.com. Previous winners of the Lamont Award or the Munsey Award are not eligible for the award. The deadline for nominations is April 30, 2011.

With sixteen nominations for the 2010 Munsey Award, the PulpFest organizing committee was very pleased with the response to its call for nominations. In early June, ballots describing each of the nominees and their contributions to the pulp world were sent to all the living Lamont and Munsey Award winners.

The votes have all been counted and the recipient of the 2010 Munsey Award is…..   Oops, we almost let it slip out! You’ll have to be in attendance at this year’s PulpFest on Saturday evening, July 31st, to meet our winner. The Munsey will be presented to one of our sixteen nominees following the annual PulpFest business meeting. So be sure to mark your calendars for PulpFest 2010, beginning Thursday, July 29th (early registration) and running through Sunday, August 1st.

There were sixteen nominating petitions for the 2010 Munsey Award that met the criteria put forth in our Call for Munsey Nominations. Many thanks from the PulpFest organizing committee to all who participated in the nominating process.

The nominee ballot was next forwarded to the past winners of the Munsey and Lamont Awards who selected this year’s winner. The 2010 Munsey Award was presented during Saturday evening’s programming, July 31.

Congratulations to all the nominees for this year’s Munsey.

Anthony Tollin

It was Tony Tollin who had the fortitude to convince Conde Nast to license authorized reprints of Doc Savage, The Shadow, The Avenger, and The Whisperer. Tony’s regularly issued Sanctum Books are some of the most popular reprints in the field today. Practically every month, we can enjoy a double dose of some of the pulp era’s greatest heroes, coupled with informative articles about the authors, the sources for the stories and the pop culture that they inspired. These books continue to serve as a major gateway for new people to enter the pulp-collecting hobby. Additionally, Tony was the co-author with Walter Gibson of The Shadow Scrapbook and helped to put together and introduce numerous recorded collections of pulp-related radio programs during his association with Radio Spirits. He was also involved with several comic book interpretations of the great pulp heroes.

Chris Kalb

A graphic and web designer by trade, Chris’ Internet work and many publishing ventures have helped to attract people who are being exposed to pulps for the first time. There isn’t anyone out there making better use of all the new technology while still preserving the “oldness” of pulps and popular culture. He has become the person to go to for publishers who want a retro-design for their books or website. His work for Age of Aces Books, the newly redesigned Blood ‘n’ Thunder, his own The Spider Returns, The 86th Floor, and G-8 and His Battle Aces websites and, of course, the PulpFest website are all proof of his devotion to the pulps and his mastery of melding the past with the present.

Dan Zimmer

For nearly ten years, Dan has been working to promote greater awareness of pulp artists by producing and distributing Illustration Magazine. He has tirelessly contributed his time, expertise and his personal wealth to promote a more respectful awareness of the artistic accomplishments of pulp artists through the deluxe publication of the many biographical articles on pulp artists that have appeared in his magazine, distributed around the globe. He has done this despite the overwhelming fact that his creative vision is far beyond receiving any reasonable economic return for his efforts. Dan’s devotion to classic American illustrators is manifest in the elegant presentation of his magazine and has helped to turn the tide in our culture’s growing appreciation of pulp art. Additionally, he has supported the pulp community by drawing his readers’ attention to various pulp conventions, including the Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention, Pulpcon, and PulpFest. Dan has also served as the sponsor of Windy City’s annual pulp art exhibit and created the limited edition print of David Saunder’s Munsey Award painting without cost to the PulpFest organizing committee.

Don Herron

For decades, Don has been a major force in research about the lives and works of Dashiell Hammett, Robert E. Howard, Charles Willeford, Philip K. Dick, Clark Ashton Smith, and other pulp writers, as well as promoting their works to wider audiences. In 1977, Don created the Dashiell Hammett Tour and has led it in San Francisco ever since. It is the longest-running literary tour in the world. His Hammett tour has been covered regularly by the media, and Don has appeared on radio and television in America, Great Britain, Japan, and Germany. Don has been a frequent contributor to The Cimmerian, one of the leading periodicals devoted to Robert E. Howard and his works, in addition to editing books about the author. Don has also been an important contributor to the Howard Days conferences in Texas and has earned several awards for his work on Howard. He has written or edited numerous pulp-related books including The Dark Barbarian: The Writings of Robert E. Howard (1984), the five-volume Selected Letters of Philip K. Dick (1991-1997), The Barbaric Triumph: A Critical Anthology on the Writings of Robert E. Howard (2004), The Dashiell Hammett Tour: Thirtieth Anniversary Guidebook (2009), and others.

Garyn Roberts

Professor Roberts is the Chair of the Communications/English Discipline at Northwestern Michigan College. He is also an unabashed fan of the pulps. Garyn has written extensively about the pulps, both professionally and as a fan. He has edited or co-edited some of the best collections from the pulps including A Cent a Story: The Best from Ten Detective Aces, More Tales of the Defective Detective in the Pulps, The Compleat Adventures of the Moon Man, The Magical Mysteries of the Green Ghost and The Compleat Great Merlini. His insightful essays in these books and elsewhere have led to a greater understanding of the pulps both inside and outside of the pulp community. His collection, The Prentice Hall Anthology of Science Fiction and Fantasy, a college level textbook, is notable for the attention paid to the pulp magazines. Additionally, Garyn has helped other researchers with various pulp-related projects and is a regular attendee of pulp conventions.

Gene Christie

A researcher of fantasy, science fiction, mystery and adventure fiction for over twenty years, Gene has extensively studied and indexed the magazines of the pulp era, especially those published by the Frank A. Munsey Company. Never too busy or tired to help, Gene has volunteered his time, knowledge and editorial abilities, contributing to projects published by Adventure House, Off-Trail Publications, Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, and others. He annually volunteers at the Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention, in addition to proofing their program book, and has been a long-time attendee at other pulp-related conventions. In conjunction with Black Dog Books, he has compiled and edited a number of rare and previously unreprinted works, including Cornell Woolrich’s The Good Die Young, George Allan England’s The Empire in the Air, Seabury Quinn’s Demons of the Night, Murray Leinster’s The Silver Menace, The Space Annihilator, and several forthcoming collections. He also serves as series editor for Black Dog Books’ multi-volume Talbot Mundy Library.

George Vanderburgh

Through his Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, George has published nearly 400 books, many of them directly related to the pulps. He was largely responsible for finally getting all of Fred Davis’ classic Moon Man stories back into print. And what about his Peter the Brazen series, his five volumes featuring the work of Seabury Quinn, The Compleat Adventures of the Park Avenue Hunt Club, his Green Ghost set, The Compleat Saga of John Solomon, and the just completed The Adventures of the Golden Amazon? He has also given us numerous collections of detective fiction, including volumes featuring the Thinking Machine, Dr. Thorndyke and Martin Hewitt. Looking at his website, his future plans include several books reprinting pulp authors who have been unjustly forgotten. Along with Robert Weinberg, George was recently named the co-editor of Arkham House Books. A regular attendee of pulp conventions, George has helped both longtime and new fans to collect the tales of some of the most fantastic heroes from the pulps.

Howard Wright

Howard has been publishing the Doc Savage fan magazine The Bronze Gazette for nearly twenty years. He created the Gazette when there was no real Internet and very little information readily available about Lester Dent’s “Man of Bronze.” His main reason for starting the publication was to gather information about Doc Savage, disseminate this news to the “Fans of Bronze,” and keep Doc fans going during the “lean” years when Doc was, for the most part, a mere memory. Through Howard’s efforts, interest in Doc was maintained and his return to the limelight assured.

John DeWalt

For years, John has selflessly aided researchers, sharing his collection and knowledge. He is a joy with whom to share his, and our, joy of pulps. He has quietly helped many people, sharing stories and his experience with no thought of anything in return. He is quiet about his generosity, never thinking to remark on it. His self-published Key to Other Doors: Some Lists from a Pulp Collector’s Notebook, is still an excellent source of information about pulp fanzines, pulp reprints, pulp conventions and the single-character pulps.

Laurie Powers

The granddaughter of pulp author Paul S. Powers, Laurie was introduced to the pulp community in 2007 through the publication of Pulp Writer: Twenty Years in the American Grub Street, an autobiography and appreciation of her grandfather. Later that same year, she started Laurie’s Wild West, an Internet blog site that has become a favorite destination for those interested in the pulps. She has published articles on pulp memoirs, “Who Read the Pulps?,” collectors’ guides to the pulps, holiday pulp covers, and, most recently, a series of articles put together by various pulp fans entitled “My Favorite Pulps.” Although relatively new to the world of pulps, Laurie has shown tremendous support for the community by spreading the word about pulp fiction and publicizing the conventions that salute our wonderful hobby.

Mike Chomko (2010 winner)

Mike has been involved in the pulp hobby for over twenty years, writing his first article for Echoes in the late eighties. After Bob Sampson’s passing, Mike continued the indexing of both Echoes and The Pulp Collector. In 1995, he launched the pulp fanzine Purple Prose. Running for seventeen issues, Purple Prose published biographical sketches of early pulp readers such as Richard Minter, Nick Carr, and George Evans, a lengthy study of Fiction House’s Wings, a biography of pulp artist John Howitt, and much more. Perhaps the highlight of the run was the publication of “The Steeger Papers,” a draft pulp history penned by Popular Publications’ Harry Steeger and annotated by Mike. He has also volunteered at various pulp conventions over the years and is one of the leading distributors of pulp-related publications. With Jack Cullers, Ed Hulse, and Barry Traylor, Mike helped to organize the first PulpFest in 2009.

Mike Taylor

A Burroughs and science fiction fan and intermittent pulp collector since the 1950s, Mike has been puttering around with writing since the late seventies. He sold his first mystery short story in 1978 and wrote various pieces in that genre, including ghosting for the Mike Shayne series and for several pulp-related novelettes set in the 1930s. Mike returned to writing about the pulps in the late 1990s when he began reviewing a variety of pulp magazines for Camille Cazedessus’ Pulpdom. Over the last twelve years, he has described selections from nearly every pre-1930 general fiction pulp line published, including Argosy, All-Story, Cavalier, Popular, and other titles. His many articles have appeared in the fanzine Pulpdom, which celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in May 2010.

Ron Fortier

Ron, a professional writer for over twenty-five years, and illustrator Rob Davis started Airship 27 Productions to create a home for new, pulp-inspired fiction. Since 2007, Airship 27 has revived long moribund pulp characters such as the Green Lama, Jimmy Anthony, the Masked Rider, Secret Agent X, and Fortier’s own version of Ace Periodicals’ Captain Hazzard. Ron’s books have inspired contemporary writers and artists to turn out new adventures featuring many of the characters long remembered by the pulp community. They have also served as ports of entry for new people to become involved with the world of pulps. In 2009, Ron helped develop the Pulp Factory Awards, inaugurated to support, applaud, and encourage the creation of new pulp fiction and art. The first PFAs were awarded at the 2010 Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention.

Ron Hanna

For much of the last decade Ron, through his Wild Cat Books operation, has been doing a fantastic job of maintaining interest in the great pulps, making them both available and affordable to old and new fans alike. Beginning with his fanzine Lost Sanctum, Ron has published material by both new and old writers and artists, all of them with a great love for the pulps. A few years ago, he took his love of pulps to the next level and began presenting brand new pulp fiction and art by some of today’s finest creators. Most recently, he has revived the classic science-fiction magazine, Startling Stories. Ron doesn’t get rich doing any of this. No, his efforts come from his heart and his genuine love for the pulps.

Stephen T. Miller

Steve has been helping to index the pulps for years. Along with Michael Cook, he compiled Garland Publishing’s Mystery, Detective, and Espionage Fiction: A Checklist of Fiction in U. S. Pulp Magazines, 1915-1974, an exceptionally useful resource for collectors of not only detective pulps, but also hero and some adventure magazines. With Bill Contento, Steve compiled Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Weird Fiction Magazine Index (1890-2006), a guide to more than 900 different magazines, published on CD-ROM by Locus Press and updated periodically by the publisher. Over the years, Steve has also helped many different people with pulp-related research, sharing his knowledge as well as his collection with them.

William Contento

Probably best known for the Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Weird Fiction Magazine Index (1890-2006) that he compiled with Steve Miller, Bill has assembled other works that have become essential tools of reference. These include his Index to Science Fiction Anthologies and Collections, Index to Crime and Mystery Anthologies (with Martin H. Greenberg), and The Supernatural Index (with Mike Ashley). In the last ten years, he has built up the online FictionMags Index into a research juggernaut. It currently lists the contents of over 44,000 issues of almost 3000 different magazine titles. Pulps are heavily represented, of course, but pulp writers turn up in other magazines, too, and the FictionMags Index allows them to be discovered. A huge endeavor, the FictionMags Index has been a tremendous boon to pulp-magazine research.

The PulpFest Organizing Committee is proud to announce that sixteen members of the general pulp community have been nominated for the 2010 Munsey Award. The nominees were selected by pulp fans over the last several months. Their names will now be forwarded to a committee made up of all the living Lamont Award winners and last year’s Munsey winner, Bill Thom, who will select the person to receive the 2010 Munsey.

The sixteen nominees include Anthony Tollin, Chris Kalb, Dan Zimmer, Don Herron, Garyn Roberts, Gene Christie, George Vanderburgh, Howard Wright,  John DeWalt, Laurie Powers, Mike Chomko, Mike Taylor, Ron Fortier, Ron Hanna, Steve Miller, and Bill Contento. You’ll find further details about each nominee on the 2010 Nominees page of our website.

The recipient of the 2010 Munsey Award, a limited edition print designed by artist and pulp enthusiast David Saunders, will be announced on July 31 as part of the Saturday evening programming schedule, open to all PulpFest 2010 registrants.

With spring fast approaching, it’s time to get your Munsey Award nominations to PulpFest. All members of the pulp community, whether they plan to attend PulpFest 2010 or not, are welcome to nominate a deserving person for this year’s service award.

Named after Frank A. Munsey, the man who published the first all-fiction pulp magazine, the Munsey is presented annually to a deserving person who has given of himself or herself for the betterment of the pulp community, be it through disseminating knowledge about the pulps, publishing, or through other efforts to preserve and to foster interest in the pulp magazines we all love and enjoy. All members of the pulp community, excepting past winners of the Munsey or Lamont awards, are eligible for this prestigious prize.    (more…)

Happy Thanksgiving to all! With the holiday shopping season getting underway tomorrow, why not treat yourself to "Christmas in July" by sending in your registration for PulpFest 2010? Or perhaps you can convince your significant other to skip the sweater that he or she was planning to buy for you on Black Friday and instead purchase a "3-day membership with early bird access" for their favorite pulp fan. And while they’re at it, you might want to tell them about the Titanic exhibit that will be at Columbus’ Center of Science and Industry through September 6. Why not make PulpFest 2010 a trip for the whole family? Columbus has plenty to offer!     (more…)

Munsey Award Winners

PulpFest 2010,  Columbus, Ohio– Michael Chomko, researcher, writer, publisher, and convention volunteer who, along with Jack Cullers, Ed Hulse, and Barry Traylor, works to organize the annual PulpFest, the summer’s great pulp con. In the late eighties, Mike published his first article in Echoes and later published the well-regarded Purple Prose, a fanzine devoted to pulp history. He is also known as one of the leading distributors of pulp-related publications.

PulpFest 2009, Columbus, Ohio–William Thom, the designer of the Coming Attractions website where just about every pulp fan with computer access goes to learn about the latest news and book releases in the world of pulps and pulp reprints. Bill also maintains the Pulp Series Character Reprint Index that can be accessed through the Altus Press website as well as the Robert E. Howard bibliography available through the Howard Works website. He has also helped many researchers over the years through his knowledge and collection.

Lamont Award Winners

Like the Munsey Award, the Lamont was awarded to a deserving person who had given of himself or herself for the betterment of the pulp community. The first Lamont was awarded in 1977 at Pulpcon 6. It was awarded annually from 1983 through 2008, the last year that Pulpcon was held.

Pulpcon 37, 2008, Dayton, Ohio—Tom Roberts
Pulpcon 36, 2007, Dayton, Ohio—Ed Hulse
Pulpcon 35, 2006, Dayton, Ohio—John Wooley
Pulpcon 34, 2005, Dayton, Ohio—Neil and Leigh Mechem
Pulpcon 33, 2004, Dayton, Ohio—John Locke
Pulpcon 32, 2003, Dayton, Ohio—Jim Steranko
Pulpcon 31, 2002, Dayton, Ohio—Bob Gorton
Pulpcon 30, 2001, Dayton, Ohio—Sheldon Jaffrey
Pulpcon 29, 2000, Dayton, Ohio—Frank Robinson
Pulpcon 28, 1999, Dayton, Ohio—Tony Davis
Pulpcon 27, 1998, Bowling Green, Ohio—Earl Kussman
Pulpcon 26, 1997, Bowling Green, Ohio—Walker Martin
Pulpcon 25, 1996, San Jose, California—Doug Ellis
Pulpcon 24, 1995, Bowling Green, Ohio—John Gunnison
Pulpcon 23, 1994, Bowling Green, Ohio—Don and Mary Ramlow
Pulpcon A, 1994, Tucson, Arizona—Albert Tonik
Pulpcon 22, 1993, Dayton, Ohio—Ryerson Johnson and Richard Minter
Pulpcon 21, 1992, Dayton, Ohio—Lynn Hickman and Leonard Robbins
Pulpcon 20, 1991, Dayton, Ohio—Tom and Ginger Johnson
Pulpcon 19, 1990, Wayne, New Jersey—Don Hutchison
Pulpcon 18, 1989, Dayton, Ohio—Jack Deveny
Pulpcon 17, 1988, Dayton, Ohio—Richard Clear
Pulpcon 16, 1987, Dayton , Ohio—Gordon Huber
Pulpcon 15, 1986, Dayton, Ohio—Fred Cook and Rusty Hevelin
Pulpcon 14, 1985, Dayton, Ohio—John Roy and Darrell Richardson
Pulpcon 13, 1984, Cherry Hill, New Jersey—Frank Hamilton
Pulpcon 12, 1983, Dayton, Ohio—Robert Weinberg
Pulpcon 8, 1979, Dayton, Ohio—Will Murray
Pulpcon 7, 1978, St. Louis, Missouri—Robert Sampson and Wooda "Nick" Carr
Pulpcon 6, 1977, Akron, Ohio—Nils Hardin

Chris Kalb

Chris would be the perfect recipient for the first Munsey Award. He embodies everything your committee is trying to accomplish with PulpFest. His web site work and many publishing ventures are really attractive to people being exposed to pulps for the first time. There isn’t anyone out there making better use of all the new technology while still preserving the “oldness” of pulps and popular culture. He has become the “go-to-guy” for publishers who want a retro design. Please see his work for Age of Aces Books, the newly redesigned Blood ‘n’ Thunder, his own The Spider Returns website and, of course, the PulpFest website.

Steve Miller

Stephen T. Miller has been helping to index the pulps for years. Along with Michael Cook, he compiled Garland Publishing’s Mystery, Detective, and Espionage Fiction: A Checklist of Fiction in U. S. Pulp Magazines, 1915-1974, an exceptionally useful resource for collectors of not only detective pulps, but also hero and some adventure magazines. With Bill Contento, Steve compiled Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Weird Fiction Magazine Index (1890-1998), a guide to more than 900 different magazines, published on CD-ROM by Locus Press and updated periodically by the publisher. Over the years, Steve has also helped many different people with pulp-related research.

Garyn Roberts

Dr. Roberts is the Chair of the Communications/English Discipline at Northwestern Michigan College. He is also an unabashed fan of the pulps. Garyn has written extensively about the pulps, both professionally and as a fan. He has edited or co-edited some of the best collections from the pulps including A Cent a Story: The Best from Ten Detective Aces, More Tales of the Defective Detective in the Pulps, The Compleat Adventures of the Moon Man, The Magical Mysteries of the Green Ghost and The Compleat Great Merlini. His insightful essays in these books and elsewhere have led to a greater understanding of the pulps both inside and outside of the pulp community. His collection, The Prentice Hall Anthology of Science Fiction and Fantasy, a college level textbook, is notable for the attention paid to the pulp magazines where the science-fiction and fantasy genres evolved from their roots in the works of Poe, Hawthorne, Verne and Wells. Additionally, Garyn has helped other researchers time and again with various pulp-related projects and is a regular attendee of pulp conventions.

Bill Thom

One person who has been dedicated to the pulp community for many, many years is Bill Thom. Pretty much everyone knows of his efforts with Coming Attractions, the website that Bill updates on a weekly basis where just about every pulp fan with computer access goes to learn about the latest news and book releases in the world of pulps and pulp reprints. And before computers became widespread, Bill was telling us the latest pulpish news in Echoes, Tom and Ginger Johnson’s long running and acclaimed pulp fanzine. Additionally, Bill maintains the Pulp Series Character Reprint Index that can be accessed through the Altus Press website as well as the Robert E. Howard bibliography available through the Howard Works website. He has also been a tremendous help for researchers over the years through his knowledge and collection.

Anthony Tollin

It was Tony Tollin who had the fortitude to convince Conde Naste to license authorized reprints of Doc Savage, The Shadow and now, The Avenger and The Whisperer. Although we were already in a golden age of pulp reprints before Tollin’s publications began to appear, his books were icing on the cake. Today, we can enjoy a double dose of some of the pulp era’s greatest heroes practically every month, coupled with informative articles about the authors, the sources for the stories and the pop culture that they inspired. Additionally, Tony was the co-author with Walter Gibson of The Shadow Scrapbook and helped to put together numerous recorded collections of pulp-related radio programs during his association with Radio Spirits.

George Vanderburgh

Through his Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, George has published nearly 400 books, many of them directly related to the pulps. He was largely responsible for finally getting all of Fred Davis’ classic Moon Man stories back into print. And what about his Peter the Brazen series, his five volumes featuring the work of Seabury Quinn, The Compleat Adventures of the Park Avenue Hunt Club, his Green Ghost set and the just released The Compleat Saga of John Solomon? He has also given us numerous collections of detective fiction, including volumes featuring the Thinking Machine, Dr. Thorndyke and Martin Hewitt. Looking at his website, his future plans include several books reprinting pulp authors who have been unjustly forgotten. And so much of this work was done while he was practicing medicine full time. Along with Robert Weinberg, George has just been named the co-editor of Arkham House Books. A regular attendee of pulp conventions, George is very much deserving of the first Munsey Award.

Dan Zimmer

For the last ten years, Dan has been working to promote greater awareness of pulp artists by producing and distributing Illustration Magazine. Dan has tirelessly contributed his time, expertise and his own personal wealth to promote a more respectful awareness of the artistic accomplishments of pulp artists through the deluxe publication of the many biographical articles on pulp artists that have appeared in his magazine and been distributed around the globe. He has done this despite the overwhelming fact that his creative vision is far beyond receiving any reasonable economic return for his efforts. Dan’s devotion to classic American illustrators is manifest in the elegant presentation of his magazine and has helped to turn the tide in our culture’s growing appreciation of pulp art. Additionally, he has supported the pulp community by drawing his readers’ attention to various pulp conventions, including the Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention, Pulpcon and PulpFest. Dan has also served as the sponsor of Windy City’s annual pulp art exhibit and created the limited edition print of David Saunder’s Munsey Award painting without cost to the PulpFest organizing committee.

The Munsey Award is named after Frank A. Munsey, the man who published the first all-fiction pulp magazine in December 1896. It was with The Argosy that the pulp magazine was born. For most of the next sixty years, the pulp would be one of the leading forms of entertainment in American society.

David Saunders, the son of the legendary pulp artist Norman Saunders, has created a sensational, limited-edition print, one copy of which will be annually offered as the Munsey Award at PulpFest. David’s work is a refreshing homage to classic pulp art that honors the entire pulp community and their common love of the purple prose of the bloody pulps. We are sure that Norman Saunders would be proud of his son’s wonderful painting. Dan Zimmer of the Illustrated Press has produced a deluxe, limited edition of thirty-six numbered and signed prints. The PulpFest Committee is indebted to both David and Dan for their generous support of our convention.

A New York artist whose work can be found in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, The New Museum and at other museums and in public buildings throughout the United States and other countries, David Saunders has taught art at Yale, Oberlin and many other colleges worldwide, including schools in Paris, London and Tokyo. He is an expert on pulp art and has spoken on the subject at conferences and has served as the guest of honor at various pulp conventions. David has also written numerous articles on pulp artists for Illustration Magazine and is the author of Norman Saunders, a biography and appreciation of his father’s work. For further information on David and for a look at his work, please visit The David Saunders Museum at davidsaunders.biz.

"The Munsey Award,"  by David Saunders, 2009

The Munsey Award is awarded annually to a deserving person who has given of himself or herself for the betterment of the pulp community, be it through disseminating knowledge about the pulps or through publishing or other efforts to preserve and to foster interest in the pulp magazines we all love and enjoy. Nominations for the award are welcome and can be made by anyone. Except for previous winners of the Lamont Award or the Munsey Award, all members of the general pulp community can be nominated. The winner of the award will be selected from these nominees by a panel of judges consisting of recognized experts in the pulp field. The deadline for nominations is April 30, 2011.

For a list of the winners of the Lamont Award and a brief biographical sketch of Mike Chomko, the winner of the 2010 Munsey Award, please visit the Munsey Award Winners page of our website.

For questions about the Munsey Award or to nominate someone for the 2011 award, please write to Mike Chomko at 2217 W. Fairview St., Allentown, PA18104 or via email at mike@pulpfest.com.