(Poster by Robb Mirsky)
Wright Award Nominees 2021
by BK Munn
The nominees for the 2021 Doug Wright Awards, celebrating “excellence in the field of Canadian comics,” have been announced. The ceremony will again be virtual this year, taking place in an online video broadcast on Facebook and YouTube, on Saturday, May 8th, at 8 p.m. ET, hosted again by Don McKellar. According to the Awards organizers, “147 books by Canadian authors and artists were submitted to the Doug Wright Awards, in four categories. Nominees and winners were chosen by a panel of three judges per category. Books from more than 30 publishers were submitted, along with nearly three dozen self-published works. Each winner will receive a small cash prize, and the winner of The Nipper will be awarded a weeklong retreat at the Valleyview Artist Retreat, in Caledon, Ontario. All entrants to The Pigskin Peters will receive a one-year subscription to Broken Pencil.” The judges this year are Steven W. Beattie, Claudia Dávila, Jenn Haines, Paul G. Hammond, Brett Lamb, Shauna McCabe, Sylvia Nickerson, Emily Pohl-Weary, Sarah Sawler, Jonathan Valelly, and Frank Viva.
Here are the nominees:
The Doug Wright Award for best book
Lonely Boys, S. Bédard (Pow Pow Press)
Familiar Face, Michael DeForge (Drawn & Quarterly)
Constantly, GG (Koyama Press)
Paul at Home, Michel Rabagliati (Drawn & Quarterly)
Wendy, Master of Art, Walter Scott (Drawn & Quarterly)
The Nipper: The Doug Wright Award for emerging talent
Adam de Souza, A Gleaming No. 2 (Self-published)
Kimberly Edgar, The Space In Between (Self-published)
Courtney Lober, We Don’t Go Through the Angelgrass I (Self-published)
Veronica Post, Langosh & Peppi: Fugitive Days (Conundrum Press)
Shannon M. Reeves, Restless Bones (Gytha Press)
The Pigskin Peters: The Doug Wright Award for best small- or micro-press book
The Noiseless Din, Scott Carruthers (Popnoir Editions)
The Desecration, Scott Carruthers and Sally McKay (Self-published)
A Gleaming No. 2, Adam de Souza (Self-published)
The Space In Between, Kimberly Edgar (Self-published)
Awkward Pause, Ryan Harby (Renegade Arts Entertainment)
The Egghead: The Doug Wright Award for best kids’ book
A Slug Story, Mandi Kujawa, Hana Kujawa, Claude St. Aubin, and Lovern Kindzierski (Renegade Arts Entertainment)
The Little Ghost Who Was a Quilt, Riel Nason and Byron Eggenschwiler (Tundra Books)
Okay, Universe: Chronicles of a Woman in Politics, Valérie Plante and Delphie Côté-Lacroix (Drawn & Quarterly)
Grandmother School, Rina Singh and Ellen Rooney (Orca Book Publishers)
Swift Fox All Along, Rebecca Thomas and Maya McKibbin (Annick Press)
Giants of the North: The Canadian Cartoonist Hall of Fame
This year we are again pushing the induction of our living Giant of the North inductee until such time as a live public ceremony is again possible.
Fred Kelly (1921–2005), a writer and artist best known for his work with Bell Features during the post–Second World War “Canadian Whites” era, in particular his creation of the character Mr. Monster.
