With great pleasure, and no small amount of excitement, we're very happy to announce Sara Diesel's selection as KWF's 2015 Sponsored Artist.

Sara emerged from the pack as a clear winner with the strong, professional quality of her portfolio and excellent undergraduate work as a recent graduate of the Columbus College of Art and Design.

As the recipient of this year's artist sponsorship, Sara's attendance at San Diego Comic Con and an exhibitor spot in the KWF booth will be fully funded by the Foundation. We'll also collaborate with Sara to find the best ways to showcase her work and network with other artists and creative professionals.

Most of all, we'll look to get to know Sara and her art, and do all we can to make Con a place where she can take the next step in her journey as an up-and-coming artist.

Final artist reviews and interviews are complete, including portfolio reviews by an industry professional. Now on to deliberation, which won't be an easy task. We expect to make an announcement early next week. In the meantime, we hope everyone enjoys a relaxing Memorial Day weekend. More to follow after the break! 

Artist selection is down to the "Final Five" candidates for sponsorship! We continue to be very, very excited by the quality of applicants-- there were tough choices as we narrowed the field down to a handful that we'll now contact to verify their ability to attend SDCC 2015. Emails and calls will go out to the final five candidates as we work towards final selection by the end of this month.

Many thanks to everyone who referred or applied, and please stay tuned for more news next week!

The application period for this year's Artist Sponsorship Program closed last week, and we're excited to review the artists who submitted their work for consideration. This year's selected artist will receive an opportunity to display their work at San Diego Comic Con in the Foundation's booth on the convention floor. We'll also look to introduce and network the selected artist with other creators, artists, publishers, and notable professionals in their creative field.

We've spent the last few days reviewing portfolios and artist bios. Lots of thoughtful writing was submitted along with really striking media and personal and professional visions. Applicants will be narrowed down to a final group of 3 within the next 72 hours, and calls will go out for phone and Skype interviews. We'll post updates here by the end of the week. Stay tuned!