Today, Vermont’s Center for Cartoon Studies and media partner The Beat are proud to announce the winners of the 2021 Cartoonist Studio Prize: in the Print Comic of the Year category, Fights: One Boy’s Triumph Over Violence by Joel Christian Gill, and in the Webcomic of the Year category, Dog Biscuits by Alex Graham.

Each winner will be awarded a prize of $1,000 as well as a Wacom One Creative Pen Display.

The Cartoonist Studio Prize honors the most exceptional print and web comics from 2021, and was sponsored by The Denis Kitchen Art Agency, Felix Comic Art, and Wacom. Any comic published in English between January 1st, 2020 and December 31st, 2020 was eligible for submission for the award, with submissions having closed on February 15th, 2021.

In addition to myself, personally serving on behalf of The Beat, the panel of judges also included Natalie Wardlaw and Reilly Hadden from the Schulz Library at The Center for Cartoon Studios, and guest judge Liniers, the renowned Argentine cartoonist who created the long-running comic Macanudo.

For the initial announcement about the 2021 Cartoonist Studio Prize Award, click here. And you’d like to see the full shortlist of nominees for both the Print and Webcomic categories you can click here.

This is the ninth Cartoonist Studio Prize Award. You can read more about previous years here.

The 2020 Cartoonist Studio Prize Award for Print Comic of the Year was awarded to Grass by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim and translated by Janet Hong, and the winner for Best Webcomic of the Year was awarded to Eat Street Diners Club by Will Dinski.

Have you had a chance to read Fights: One Boy’s Triumph Over Violence or Dog Biscuits, or any of the other exceptional comics included in the category shortlists? Let The Beat know, either in the comment section or on social media @comicsbeat!