by 
Updated on December 11, 2021
This year’s annual GLAAD Media Awards were held (virtually) earlier this month. The awards honor representations of the LGBTQ community in mainstream media, including TV, movies, and even comics.
Below’s a look at the 2021 GLAAD Media Awards’ animation and comics-related nominees and winners. Winners are in bold; animation/comic-related winners are in italics. A full list of winners is available here.
Outstanding Comedy Series
- Schitt’s Creek (Pop)
- Big Mouth (Netflix)
- Harley Quinn (HBO Max)
- Dead to Me (Netflix)
- Everything’s Gonna Be Okay (Freeform)
- Love, Victor (Hulu)
- Saved by the Bell (Peacock)
- Sex Education (Netflix)
- Superstore (NBC)
- Twenties (BET)
Outstanding Drama Series
- Star Trek: Discovery (Paramount+)
- Supergirl (The CW)
- The Umbrella Academy (Netflix)
- 9-1-1: Lone Star (FOX)
- Killing Eve (BBC America)
- P-Valley (Starz)
- Ratched (Netflix)
- Vida (Starz)
- The Wilds (Amazon)
- Wynonna Earp (Syfy)
Outstanding Children’s Programming
- The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo (HBO Max)
- “Challenge of the Senior Junior Woodchucks!” DuckTales (Disney XD)
- “Dogbot” Clifford The Big Red Dog (Scholastic Entertainment/Amazon/PBS)
- “Nancy Plays Dress Up” Fancy Nancy (Disney Junior)
- Summer Camp Island (HBO Max)
Outstanding Kids & Family Programming
- (Tie) She-Ra & The Princesses of Power (DreamWorks Animation/Netflix)
- (Tie) First Day (Hulu)
- Craig of the Creek (Cartoon Network)
- Kipo and The Age of Wonderbeasts (DreamWorks Animation/Netflix)
- The Loud House (Nickelodeon)
- “Obsidian” Adventure Time: Distant Lands (HBO Max)
- The Owl House (Disney Channel)
- Steven Universe (Cartoon Network)
- Diary of a Future President (Disney+)
- “Mary Anne Saves the Day” The Baby-Sitters Club (Netflix)
Outstanding Video Game
- (Tie) The Last of Us Part II (Sony Interactive Entertainment)
- (Tie) Tell Me Why (Xbox Game Studios)
- Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (Ubisoft)
- Borderlands 3: Guns, Love, and Tentacles (2K Games)
- Bugsnax (Young Horses)
- Hades (Supergiant Games)
- If Found… (Annapurna Interactive)
- Ikenfell (Humble Games/Happy Ray Games)
- Immortals Fenyx Rising (Ubisoft)
- World of Warcraft: Shadowlands (Blizzard Entertainment)
Outstanding Comic Book
- Empyre, Lords of Empyre: Emperor Hulkling, Empyre: Aftermath Avengers, by Al Ewing, Dan Slott, Chip Zdarsky, Anthony Oliveira, Valerio Schiti, Manuel Garcia, Cam Smith, Marte Gracia, Triona Farrell, Joe Caramagna, Ariana Maher, Travis Lanham (Marvel Comics)
- Far Sector, by N.K. Jemisin, Jamal Campbell, Deron Bennett (DC Comics)
- Guardians of the Galaxy, by Al Ewing, Juann Cabal, Nina Vakueva, Chris Sprouse, Belén Ortega, Marcio Takara, Karl Story, Federico Blee, Guru-eFX, Cory Petit (Marvel Comics)
- Juliet Takes a Breath, by Gabby Rivera, Celia Moscote, James Fenner, DC Hopkins (Boom! Studios)
- Lois Lane, by Greg Rucka, Mike Perkins, Gabe Eltaeb, Andy Troy, Simon Bowland (DC Comics)
- The Magic Fish, by Trung Le Nguyen (Random House Graphic)
- Suicide Squad, by Tom Taylor, Bruno Redondo, Daniel Sampere, Juan Albarran, Adriano Lucas, Wes Abbott (DC Comics)
- Wynd, by James Tynion IV, Michael Dialynas, Aditya Bidikar (Boom! Studios)
- X-Factor, by Leah Williams, David Baldeon, Carlos Gomez, Israel Silva, Joe Caramagna (Marvel Comics)
- You Brought Me the Ocean, by Alex Sanchez, Julie Maroh, Deron Bennett (DC Comics)
Special Recognition (all of the following)
- Out (Pixar/Disney+)
- After Forever (Amazon)
- Deadline’s New Hollywood Podcast
- Happiest Season Soundtrack (Facet/Warner Records)
- Noah’s Arc: The ‘Rona Chronicles (Patrik Ian-Polk Entertainment)
- Razor Tongue (YouTube)
- “The Son” Little America (Apple TV+)
Comments
Not surprised at seeing “Schitt’s Creek” winning, given the number of other awards it’s racked up over the past year. It’s also the Canadian-made show’s final season.
“Star Trek: Discovery” beat out Supergirl in the drama category. The Maid of Might was nominated last year as well, but lost to “Pose.” I’ve not seen “Discovery,” given my interest in new “Star Trek” has waned in recent years (with the first reboot film not helping).
While not animated, I also enjoyed the “Noah’s Arc” reunion special; it’s the first time the characters appeared in years. Thus, it’s nice to see what happened to the entire cast; basically: lots of moving, kids, and dealing with real-world events such as the pandemic and Black Lives Matter.
Comics and animated cartoons honored at the 2021 GLAAD Media Awards
“Outstanding Children’s Programming” saw the only live-action nominee, a talk show starring Elmo of “Sesame Street,” beat everything else. That includes the “DuckTales” reboot and the “Clifford the Big Red Dog” reboot. The former has a girl with two Dads as secondary characters; the latter has Samantha, a friend of Emily Elizabeth. Samantha has two Moms, one who’s the town vet (which means frequent appearances, since the show stars dogs).
“She-Ra” tied in its category; it was presumably nominated for its final season, which gave the show a satisfying send-off for everyone.
Marvel’s trademark-friendly-spelled “Empyre” event (not to be confused with the carpet company with the catchy jingle) won for Outstanding Comic Book this year with two books from the event. One book stars Hulkling, aka Wiccan’s better half. “Empyre” beat out various Marvel, DC, and independent titles, including “You Brought Me the Ocean,” a graphic novel starring Aqualad. (Also the only one of the nominees I’ve read to date.)
In the Special Recognition category, “Out” was an enjoyable Pixar cartoon.
Image from “She-Ra and the Princesses of Power.” (DreamWorks/Netflix)
