Named in honor of the pioneering writer and artist Will Eisner (1917-2005), the Eisner Awards are bestowed annually at Comic-Con International (Comic-Con), in San Diego, California.

A committee of five judges will meet in San Diego in late March to select the nominees for the Eisner Awards ballot. The nominees will then be voted on by professionals in the comic book industry, and the results will be announced on Friday, July 22 at Comic-Con.

Karen Green began the Columbia University Libraries' comics and graphic novels collection in 2005. She works extensively with Columbia faculty in a wide range of disciplines to facilitate the use of comics in their courses, including the School of the Arts, American Studies, English and Comparative Literature, History, and the medical school. She has curated a related exhibition, "Comics in the Curriculum," now available online. She has also spoken at several campuses around the country, as well as to librarian groups, as an advocate for comics in an academic milieu. Karen writes the "Comic Adventures in Academia" column for ComiXology.com, which examines issues in comics librarianship, and has written about comics cataloging for Publishers Weekly. She is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art.

Read more about the judges for the 2011 Eisner Awards at www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_eisners_11judges.php.