John DeWalt has been named the winner of the 2025 Munsey Award. Nominated by the general pulp community, John was selected by previous winners of the Lamont, Munsey, and Rusty Awards.
The Munsey is a fine art print created by David Saunders and published by Dan Zimmer of The Illustrated Press. It is presented annually to an individual or organization that has bettered the pulp community. The award was presented by Gene Christie, last year’s Munsey winner.
Our 2025 Munsey Award winner, John DeWalt, has selflessly aided researchers, sharing his collection and knowledge of popular culture. He has quietly helped many people, sharing stories and his experience with no thought of anything in return. He is quiet about his generosity, never thinking to remark on it. A kind and generous soul, John is always willing to share his time, hospitality, and effort. His self-published Key to Other Doors: Some Lists from a Pulp Collector’s Notebook, is still an excellent source of information about pulp fanzines, pulp reprints, pulp conventions, and the single-character pulps. John has been a member of the Pulp Era Amateur Press Society since 1998. His contribution to the APA, El Dorado, reflects John’s golden vision of the pulps that bring us all so much joy.
This year, a second award was presented. The Rusty Hevelin Service Award, named after the man who guided Pulpcon for most of its existence. This award is designed to recognize those persons who have worked long and hard for the pulp community with little thought for individual recognition. It is meant to reward quiet and unheralded work and is reserved for those individuals who are most deserving.
Ray Walsh has been named the winner of the 2025 Rusty Award. Nominated by PulpFest chairman Jack Cullers, the winner was also selected by previous winners of the Lamont, Munsey, and Rusty Awards.
A pulp and paper dealer, Ray has been buying and selling pulps and related material for decades. He also organized Classicon, a paper collectibles show in Michigan for decades. For many years, he has helped organize the Mid-Michigan Antiquarian Book & Paper Show, the largest book and paper show in the Midwest. With Robert Weinberg, Walsh founded Pulp Press and published several books under that label, including Lester Dent’s Hades and Hocus Pocus and Robert Sampson’s The Night Master. Ray has supported the pulp-collecting hobby for decades. He is very deserving of recognition for his years of quiet service.
The award was presented by Jack Cullers, who shared the 2012 Rusty Award with his wife, Sally.
Congratulations to John and Ray for these well-deserved awards. Click here to watch a video of this year’s awards ceremony.
Others nominated for our 2024 Munsey Award included John Betancourt, Brian Earl Brown, Henry G. Franke III, Chris Kalb, Steve Lewis, William Patrick Maynard, Richard Meli, Jess Nevins, Audrey Parente, Justin T. O’Conor Sloane, Sheila Vanderbeek, Chuck Welch, Howard Wright, and Dan Zimmer.
Nominations are now being accepted for our 2025 Munsey Award. To make a nomination for this prestigious award, please send a short paragraph or two explaining your reasons for the nomination to PulpFest marketing and programming director Mike Chomko. You can reach Mike at mike@pulpfest.com or via regular mail at 2217 W. Fairview Street, Allentown, PA 18104-6542.
Previous winners of the Lamont, Munsey, or Rusty Award are not eligible for the award. Click here for a list of our previous winners.
The deadline for nominations is June 28, 2026. Please click here for additional details. Thanks for your help.
Click here to watch Craig McDonald’s video of this year’s awards ceremony on the PulpFest YouTube Channel.
The Munsey Award was created in 2009 by artist David Saunders, the son of legendary illustrator Norman Saunders. Dan Zimmer of The Illustrated Press produced a limited, signed, and numbered edition of the award. The print also serves as the Rusty Award. The PulpFest Organizing Committee is indebted to both David and Dan for their generous support of our community.
