The nominees for the 2014 Doug Wright Awards have been announced, honoring the best in Canadian cartoonists past and present. The awards will be presented in what is sure to be a gala evening at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival on May 10/ To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Awards, a commemorative book is being published with “past art and memorabilia, along with original interpretations of Doug Wright’s “Nipper” comic by artists such as Seth, Chester Brown, Joe Ollmann, Pascal Girard, Michael DeForge, and more. The project will be funded via Kickstarter.
And the nominees are
Best Book :
• Palookaville #21 by Seth (Drawn and Quarterly)
• Paul Joins the Scouts by Michel Rabagliati (Conundrum Press)
• Science Fiction by Joe Ollmann (Conundrum Press)
• Susceptible by Geneviève Castrée (Drawn and Quarterly)
• Very Casual by Michael DeForge (Koyama Press)
Doug Wright Spotlight Award (a.k.a. “The Nipper”) which recognizes Canadian cartoonists deserving of wider recognition:
• Connor Willumsen for “Calgary: Death Milks a Cow,” “Treasure Island,” “Mooncalf,” and “Passionfruit”
• Dakota McFadzean for Other Stories and the Horse You Rode in On (Conundrum Press)
• Patrick Kyle for Distance Mover #7 – 12, New Comics #1 – 2
• Steven Gilbert for The Journal of the Main Street Secret Lodge
• Georgia Webber for Dumb # 1 – 3
2014 Pigskin Peters Award, which recognizes the best in experimental or avant-garde comics:
• “Calgary: Death Milks a Cow” by Connor Willumsen
• Flexible Tube with Stink Lines by Seth Scriver
• Journal by Julie Delporte (Koyama Press)
• “Out of Skin” by Emily Carroll
• Very Casual by Michael DeForge (Koyama Press)
The Giant of the North Hall of Fame award will be presented to the pioneering artists of the Second World War “Canadian Whites” comics.
The Canadian Whites were black-and-white comics produced between 1941 and 1946 that contained a host of original (and iconic) Canadian characters such as Johnny Canuck, Canada Jack and Nelvana of the Northern Lights. These characters were created by the likes of Murray Karn, Adrian Dingle, Gerry Lazare, Leo Bachle and Jack Tremblay. The event will also serve as the official launch of a new collection of the complete Nelvana of the Northern Lights (by Adrian Dingle) being published by CGA Comics.
The winners will be se;ected by a jury consisting of poet and novelist Lynn Crosbie, cartoonist and 2013 Doug Wright Award-winner Nina Bunjevac, media critic Jesse Brown (Canadaland, Search Engine) and and multiple Doug Wright Award-nominated cartoonist Nick Maandag. This year’s nominating committee included Jerry Ciccoritti, Betty Liang, Rachel Richey, Chris Randle and Chester Brown.
I’m looking forward to the release of Hope Nicholson and Rachel Richey’s collected works of Nelvana. They tracked down the entire run of these obscure Canadian wartime comic books, and restored the artwork for this volume. Check out their website at http://nelvanacomics.com
Each time I read Steven Gilbert’s Journal of the Main Street Secret Lodge it was better and better. His detailed artwork and tedious cross hatching look very much similar to the artwork used in the 1800’s on posters and chap books. His story is thoughtful and could very much have been. His narrative words bring you back to that time as well as all the additional artwork at the end of the book. Overall I think it is a book worthy of the 2014 Doug Wright Award.
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