2026 marks a major milestone for the Zelda Awards as it was the inaugural year for the organization. With more than 150 nominations across a range of categories in comics and manga, the Zelda Awards received 9,000 total votes across all recipients and categories.

In an effort to combat the erasure of women’s contribution in the medium of storytelling through sequential art, the Zelda Awards seek to celebrate and showcase women who have paved their own paths, crafted new worlds, and do what humans do best—tell stories.