Les Essentiels d'Angoulême ("The Essentials of Angoulême") is a comics award chosen by the jury of the Angoulême International Comics Festival since 2007, selecting five albums from a longlist of some fifty. Subsidiary awards chosen by the same jury are the Essentiel Révélation (best first album, successor of the Angoulême International Comics Festival Prize for First Comic Book) and Essentiel Patrimoine (successor of the Angoulême International Comics Festival Prize for Inheritance).
Since 2008, the Angoulême International Comics Festival Prize Awarded by the Audience has also been renamed Essentiel FNAC-SNCF, and the Angoulême International Comics Festival Prix Jeunesse 9-12 ans has become the Essentiel Jeunesse.
| Year | Title | Author(s) | Publisher | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Black Hole | Charles Burns | Delcourt | |
| 2007 | Lupus | Frederik Peeters | Atrabile | |
| 2007 | Pourquoi j’ai tué Pierre | Olivier Ka (writer) and Alfred (artist) | Delcourt | |
| 2007 | Lucille | Ludovic Debeurme | Futuropolis | |
| 2007 | Le Photographe | Emmanuel Guibert with assistance from Frédéric Lemercier based on the story and with the photographs of Didier Lefèvre | Dupuis | |
| 2008 | Exit Wounds | Rutu Modan | Actes Sud BD | |
| 2008 | Ma maman est en Amérique, elle a rencontré Buffalo Bill | Jean Regnaud (writer) and Émile Bravo (artist) | Gallimard | |
| 2008 | La Marie en Plastique | Pascal Rabaté (writer) and David Prudhomme (artist) | Futuropolis | |
| 2008 | Trois Ombres | Cyril Pedrosa | Delcourt | |
| 2008 | R.G. | Frederik Peeters, based on the story by Pierre Dragon | Gallimard | |
| 2009 | Lulu femme nue, first book | Étienne Davodeau | Futuropolis | |
| 2009 | Martha Jane Cannary, part 1 : Les Années 1852-1869 | Christian Perrissin (writer) and Matthieu Blanchin (artist) | Futuropolis | |
| 2009 | Le Petit Christian, part 2 | Blutch | L'Association | |
| 2009 | Une Aventure de Spirou et Fantasio par ..., t. 4 : Le Journal d'un ingénu | Émile Bravo | Dupuis | |
| 2009 | Tamara Drewe | Posy Simmonds | Denoël Graphic |