The National Cartoonists Society announces its nominees for the 2012 Reuben Awards, including the selections for the Reuben Award for Cartoonist of the Year, professional cartooning's highest honor. This year's awards will be presented at a black tie dinner on Saturday, May 26, during the 66th Annual Reuben Awards Weekend, May 25-27, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
This year's nominees for the Reuben Award for Cartoonist of the Year are Brian Crane, creator of "Pickles;" Stephan Pastis, creator of "Pearls Before Swine" and Tom Richmond, humorous illustrator and frequent contributor to "Mad Magazine." The winner will receive a statuette designed by and named after the NCS' first president, Rube Goldberg. Past Reuben winners have included Al Jaffee, Patrick McDonnell, Scott Adams, Sergio Aragones, Garry Trudeau, Gary Larson, Cathy Guisewite, Mike Peters, Jim Davis, Lynn Johnston, Bill Watterson and Charles Schulz.
In addition, the year's top cartoonists in fourteen fields, from animation to newspaper strips to illustration and greeting cards, will be honored in the NCS Division Awards. These awards are voted on by a combination of the general membership (by secret ballot) and special juries overseen by various NCS Regional Chapters. A full list of nominees is attached and many of these cartoonists' works appear in your comics pages.
The National Cartoonists Society (www.reuben.org) is the world's largest and most prestigious organization of professional cartoonists. Founded in 1946 by a small group of cartoonists while entertaining the troops at military bases, the NCS now has a membership of more than 600 of the world's major cartoonists. Members work in many branches of the profession, including comic strips, comic books, editorial cartoons and magazine and book illustration.
2012 NCS REUBEN AWARD AND DIVISION AWARD NOMINEES (see below for link to artwork samples):
CARTOONIST OF THE YEAR: Brian Crane, Stephan Pastis and Tom Richmond.
DIVISION NOMINEES:
TELEVISION ANIMATION: Ben Bocquelet and Antoine Perez- Production Design on "The Wonderful World of Gumball" - Cartoon Network; Erik Wiese- Production Design on "The Mighty B" – Nickelodeon; Penn Ward- Character Design on "Adventure Time" - Cartoon Network.
FEATURE ANIMATION: Mark McCreery, character design – "Rango"; Carlos Saldanha, Director - "Rio"; Jennifer Yuh-Nelson, Director - "Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom".
NEWSPAPER ILLUSTRATION: Glen LeLievre; Michael McParlane; Bob Rich.
GAG CARTOONS: Mathew Diffee; Zach Kanin; Barbara Smaller.
GREETING CARDS: Dave Klug; Glenn McCoy; Rick Stromoski.
NEWSPAPER COMIC STRIPS: Glenn McCoy - "The Duplex"; Jeff Parker and Steve Kelley – "Dustin"; Mike Peters – "Mother Goose and Grimm".
NEWSPAPER PANEL CARTOONS: Mark Parisi – "Off the Mark"; Stephanie Piro – "Smile"; Wiley Miller – "Non Sequitur".
MAGAZINE FEATURE/MAGAZINE ILLUSTRATION: Victor Juhasz; Bruce McCall; Edward Sorel.
BOOK ILLUSTRATION: Barbara Lehman – "The Secret Box"; Mark Pett – "The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes"; John Rocco - "Blackout".
EDITORIAL CARTOONS: Lisa Benson; Mike Lester; Mike Ramirez.
ADVERTISING ILLUSTRATION: Nick Galifianakis; Kevin Kallauger (KAL); Tom Stiglich.
COMIC BOOKS: Darwyn Cooke - "Betty Saves the Day"- Rocketeer Adventures #2; Duncan Fegredo – "Hellboy: The Fury"; J.H. Williams – "Batwoman".
GRAPHIC NOVELS: Chester Brown – "Paying For It"; Rick Geary - "The Lives of Sacco and Vanzetti"; Ben Katchor – "The Cardboard Valise".
ON-LINE COMIC STRIPS: Matthew Inman – "The Oatmeal"; Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins – "Penny Arcade"; Jon Rosenberg – "Scenes from a Multiverse".
To interview NCS president Tom Richmond, please contact
tom@tomrichmond.com.
Samples of the nominees' work are available at www.reuben.org, where you will find more information about the National Cartoonists Society, including members' biographies, lists of past Reuben winners, and other historical information about the society and cartooning.