by BK Munn
The Doug Wright Awards for Canadian Cartooning were handed out last night in an emotional ceremony that included tributes to Geneviève Castrée, Annie Koyama and Katherine Collins.
Rebecca Roher won the tallest statuette for Bird In A Cage (Conundrum Press). Steve Wolfhard won the Nipper (Doug Wright Spotlight Award) for Cat Rackham (Koyama Press). Legendary cartoonist Henriette Valium won the  Pigskin Peters hat for The Palace Of Champions (Conundrum Press).
Between the awards, Steve Manale paid humourous tribute to his friend publisher Annie Koyama on the occasion of the 10th anniversary (Annie-versary?) of her Koyama Press. As well, the audience was moved to tears by D+Q editor Julia Pohl-Miranda’s remembrance of cartoonist Geneviève Castrée who died of cancer last year.
Katherine Collins, who created comics as Arn Saba in the 1970s and 80s, was inducted into the Giants of the North Hall of Fame and also gave a moving personal history detailing her struggles as a transgender woman in the dawning of comics modern age.
According to the Wright Awards, the winners were chosen “by a jury consisting of Sue Carter, editor of Quill & Quire, Canada’s magazine of book news and reviews, and the books columnist for Metro; Alison Lang, editor of Broken Pencil, a magazine focusing on alternative culture in Canada; and Dakota McFadzean, comic artist and author, and 2016 Doug Wright Award winner.” These jurists took turns reading tributes to the winners during the ceremony.