Mariko and Jillian Tamaki's graphic novel Skim was praised for the way it combines images with text. (Groundwood Books)

Celebrated cartoonists Chester Brown and Seth have penned an open letter to organizers of the Governor General's Literary Awards, protesting the exclusion of a colleague's name from the nomination for her work.

Mariko and Jillian Tamaki's graphic novel debut Skim is among the books nominated in the English-language children's literature category. Brown and Seth are protesting that only Mariko Tamaki is cited in the official nomination.

The acclaimed work, which explores life at an all-girls private school in Toronto, is a collaboration between the two cousins, with words by Mariko and artwork by Jillian (who also creates illustrations for CBCNews.ca Arts).

"We are glad to see that a graphic novel has made the short list for this year's Governor General's Literary Awards," states the letter, which was sent Wednesday afternoon.

"We're guessing that the jury who read Skim saw it as an illustrated novel. It's not; it's a graphic novel," write Brown and Seth, whose letter also received the support of leading comic world heavyweights including Art Spiegelman, Dan Clowes and Chris Oliveros.

"The text of a graphic novel cannot be separated from its illustrations because the words and the pictures together are the text. Try to imagine evaluating Skim if you couldn't see the drawings. Jillian's contribution to the book goes beyond mere illustration: she was as responsible for telling the story as Mariko was," the letter states.

The missive also cites an Oct. 21 CBCNews.ca story announcing this year's nominees, in which one of the jurors praises Skim as "remarkable in part because of how the words and pictures both contribute to the literary quality."

While the cartoonists aren't calling for the creation of a new category dedicated to graphic novels, they are asking that Jillian Tamaki receive equal billing.

"We want both of the enormously talented creators of this book to be honoured together for their achievement," the letter concludes.

The annual literary honours are funded and administered by the Canada Council for the Arts.

"We'll certainly take the suggestions in the letter under advisement," Melanie Rutledge, the council's head of writing and publishing, told CBC News on Wednesday.

"We do take the feedback very seriously. At this point, it is too late for us to make any changes this year: the finalists have been announced. In terms of making the change now — for the 2008 edition of the awards it's a little late in the game to do that," she added.

"But as I said, we take the feedback very seriously. We welcome it. And when we're planning for next year, we'll certainly take it under consideration."

Peer juries will choose winners in 14 categories (seven English and seven French), with this year's recipients to be announced on Nov. 18 in Montreal.