The Executive Committee for the Harvey Awards announced today that the official nomination ballads for this year's awards, presented at the Baltimore Comic-Con, are now available for download. The award, named after the late Harvey Kurtzman, recognizes creators for outstanding work in comics and sequential arts and is the only industry award that is both nominated and selected exclusively by industry professionals.

Serving as Master of Ceremonies for this year's awards banquette will be cartoonist and webcomic creator, Scott Kurtz. Kurtz, who is most known for his work in his creator-owned webcomic, PvP (www.pvponline.com), is a former Harvey Award nominee for Best Online Comics Work in 2006 and 2007, and winner of the Eisner Award for Best Digital Comic in 2006. Kurtz also co-wrote the book How To Make Webcomics along with several other webcomic creators.

"Scott [Kurtz] has been a part of the Harvey Awards since they have been in Baltimore. As both a nominee and presenter, Scott brought his unique sense of humor and fun to the ceremony. We are all looking forward to him bringing the same energy to the stage as the host of the show," said Marc Nathan, promoter of the Baltimore Comic-Con., in a recent press release.

This year's Harvey Awards will be presented on Saturday, October 10, 2009 in Baltimore, MD as a part of the weekend's show. Creators interested in submitting nominations for work done in 2008 can download a copy of the nomination ballad at www.harveyawards.org and completed forms can be submitted via email to harveyballads@hotmail.com. Ballads must be received by March 27, 2009 for consideration.

For more information on the Harvey Awards, please visit www.harveyawards.org. For more information on the Baltimore Comic-Con, please visit www.baltimorecomiccon.com.