Deadass Tho NYC, Vol. 2
Edited by Travis Hewitt-Roach and Daisy S Ruiz
(Brooklyn, New York)
Last year, the Broken Pencil Zine Awards only offered five categories for consideration. Yet, our panel of esteemed judges — overwhelmed by anthologies and compilations — struck out and made a new award category: the Compilation Zine!
Watch the 2018 Zine Awards ceremony.
And they were right to do so. We got tons of submissions in this category, from zines that were the result of a workshop series, to sleek literary and photo anthologies, to risograph collaborations. And the winner, Deadass Tho NYC, Vol. 2, epitomized why a plurality of voices can sometimes be the absolutely necessary approach for a project. With a blend of comics, poetry, essays and other art, it strikes the perfect balance.
“Reading this zine made me feel like I transported right into the middle of the Bronx!” said judge Monica Trinidad. “The fresh, straight-shooting, compilation of art, comics, and short stories highlighted the ominous gentrification of NYC neighbourhoods (‘Unsanitary’ cracked me up), and the pangs of being young girls in a big city. This zine felt like a glimpse into how young people of colour are coping through art-making, and I wish more zines like this were created, uplifted, and valued.”
“My first experience with zines was at a local zine event held in my home borough the Bronx, NY back in the winter of 2016,” explains Daisy Zamora, one of the zine’s co-editors. “The first zine I purchased there was titled Cell Series, a fold-out zine with pictures of El Paso, Texas, by Itzel Alejandra Martinez. The loose format and self-published expression struck me as powerful and independent, and allowed me to create a platform for spotlighting New York-based artists.”
“I was thrilled to be nominated, particularly being a publication based in New York City, and being recognized all the way out in Toronto, Canada,” she adds.
// COMPILATION ZINE FINALISTS //
Dear Journal, Issue 3
Laina Hughes & Dunja Kovacevic
(Winnipeg, Manitoba)
Emotional Magazine
Una Di Gallo
(Stoney Creek, Ontario)
Happy If You Know It
With/out Pretend
(Toronto, Ontario)
From the Root, Issue 4: Home
Whitney French and Timaj Garad
(Toronto, Ontario)
Almost Everything But a Cat
Karolina Ficek
(Vaughan, Ontario)