The Stan Lee Excelsior award for the best graphic novel or manga title is chosen by school children aged 11-16. The children read and then rate eight shortlisted titles over a 9-10 week period. The overall goal of this scheme is to encourage reading for pleasure amongst children and teenagers. However, its secondary target is to raise the profile of graphic novels and manga amongst school librarians and teachers. This storytelling medium has been a largely underused resource within education for many years. The Excelsior Award attempts to highlight some of the amazing books that are published every year, just crying out to be put in school libraries. There is also going to be a junior category for the award from 2015 for ages 8-11 where children will read and rate five rather eight shortlisted titles.

The 2014 winners are:

1st place – Earth 2 : The Gathering by by James Robinson and Nicola Scott (DC)

2nd place – Quantum and Woody: The World’s Worst Superhero Team by James Asmus and Tom Fowler (Valiant)

3rd place – Captain America: Castaway in Dimension Z by Rick Remender and John Romita Jr. (Marvel)