Saturday, May 23, 2009

Reuben Award winners for cartooning announced in Hollywood

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE.

The National Cartoonists Society tonight announced the winners of the 2008 Reuben Awards, including selection of the Reuben Award for Cartoonist of the Year, professional cartooning's highest honor. This year's awards were presented at a black tie dinner on Saturday night, May 23, during the 63rd Annual Reuben Awards Weekend, May 22-24, in Hollywood, CA. The winner of the 2008 Reuben Award for Cartoonist of the Year is Dave Coverly creator of "Speed Bump". Dave received a statuette designed by and named after the NCS' first president, Rube Goldberg. Past Reuben winners include Mike Luckovich, Al Jaffe, Patrick McDonnell, Scott Adams, Sergio Aragones, Garry Trudeau, Gary Larson, Cathy Guisewite, Mike Peters, Jim Davis, Lynn Johnston, Bill Watterson and Charles Schulz.

The nominees for this year's Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year were "Speed Bump" creator Dave Coverly, "Pearls Before Swine" creator Stephan Pastis and "Bizarro" creator Dan Piraro.

Cartoonists in various professional divisions were also honored with special plaques for excellence. These awards were 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 cartoonist's work appear in your comics pages.

The Gold Key Award, an entry into the NCS Hall of Fame, went to legendary cartoonists Bil Keane (The Family Circus) and Mell Lazarus (Momma and Miss Peach). The Silver T-Square, an award for outstanding service to the profession, went to Jeff Bacon for his work bringing cartoonists to visit wounded soldiers, and to James Kemsley (posthumous) for being an ambassador of the art form in his native Australia. In addition, the year's top cartoonists in a dozen fields, from animation to newspaper strips to illustration and greeting cards, were honored in the NCS Division Awards.

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, animation, greeting cards and magazine and book illustration.

2009 NCS REUBEN AWARD AND DIVISION AWARD WINNERS (see below for link to artwork samples and more bio information):

Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year: Dave Coverly

DIVISION AWARDS:

Best in Feature Animation Division: Nicolas Marlet - Character Designer - "Kung Fu Panda".

Best in Newspaper Illustration Division: Mark Marturello.

Best in Magazine Illustration Division: Sam Viviano.

Best in Advertising Illustration Division: Craig McKay.

Best in Comic Book Division: Cyril Pedrosa - "Three Shadows".

Best in Newspaper Panels Division: Mark Parisi - "Off the Mark".

Best in Book Illustration Division: Mike Lester- "Cool Daddy Rat".

Best in Newspaper Comic Strip Division: Mark Tatulli - "Lio.

Best in Television Animation Division: Sandra Equihua and Jorge Gutierrez - Creators - "El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera".

Best in Greeting Cards Division: Jem Sullivan.

Best in Gag Cartoons Division: Mort Gerberg.

Best in Editorial Cartoons Division: Michael Ramirez.

To interview the cartoonists or NCS president Jeff Keane, please contact: Hilary Price at 413-320-2165 or e-mail: pricehilary@yahoo.com

Samples of the nominees' work are available at www.reuben.org, where you will find more information about the National Cartoonists Society, including member's biographies, lists of past Reuben winners, and other historical information about the society and cartooning.