From left: Nick Meglin, myself, Paul Coker, Sergio Aragonés, Al Jaffee, Jack Davis and Sam Viviano. Clicky to Embiggen.

This past weekend I had the distinct privilege to participate in a gathering of some of the “Usual Gang of Idiots” (i.e. major contributors to MAD Magazine) hosted by the Southeast Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society and the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah Georgia. In attendance were long-time editor Nick Meglin, cartooning legends and members of the exclusive 50 year MAD contributor club, Paul Coker Jr., Jack Davis and Al Jaffee, soon to be member of that same club (next year) Sergio Aragonés, 30 year MAD artist and MAD art director for the last 13 years, Sam Viviano, and… uh… me. Only at MAD can you have been a regular contributor for over a decade, be 45 years old, and still be considered the “new kid”. Originally scheduled to attend and who could not make it for family health reasons was Don “Duck” Edwing, who was badly missed. Other long-time UGOI were contacted, including the incomparable Mort Drucker, but various circumstances make it impossible for them to be there.

Seriously, what a line-up. Throughout the weekend people were enthusiastic about the gathering, but I think it might have escaped most how unique it was to get Al, Jack, Paul, Nick and Sam all together at one time, Certainly that kind of gathering of greats has not happened since the legendary MAD trips Bill Gaines used to take the UGOI on. I was constantly pinching myself all weekend to even have been allowed in the same room as these awe-inspiring talents, let alone be billed alongside them.

The weekend was a mixture of presentations and workshops with the students and faculty of SCAD as well as members of the SEC NCS, tours, the opening reception of a public show of original MAD art from all the guests, and a free public panel discussion with all the attending UGOI. Here’s a rundown of the events I was able to attend, both public and private, with some pictures:

Thursday, Nov. 10th-

I got in early enough that I was able to attend Sam Viviano’s MAD 101 lecture Thursday night at 5:00 at the SCAD Museum of Art. Sam has a unique part of MAD history as he is the only major freelance contributor to become a full-time staff member. In his dual role as long-time artist and current art director, he has a perspective on the evolution of MAD from two distinct viewpoints. As a result, he is a voluminous repository of MAD lore, history and mythology, and is eminently qualified to lecture on the history of the magazine. Great presentation, and pretty well attended by SCAD students and faculty.

That night, with all of the visiting UGOI having arrived, we were able to go out and experience a little Savannah hospitality at the Crystal Beer Parlor!

Al Jaffee, Paul Coker, Jack Davis and Nick Meglin

Al and Paul arguing about gin vs. vodka martinis

Nick is exasperated as Sergio is being Sergio

Friday, November 11th-

In the morning we here taken on a quick tour of The Savannah College of Art and Design by the John Lowe, Dean of Communication Arts (and former inker for Archie, DC and Marvel). We visited the Digital Media Center (animation, etc), the Film and Motion Picture hall and the Sequential Arts (comics) building. There was a significant level of chaos at the time, as this week is the final week of the semester, and students were scrambling to get final projects done.

Me going into SCAD Digital Media Center

Touring a SCAD classroom

I have to take a moment here to say how incredibly impressive SCAD is. There are a number of schools that have a great programs in animation, film-making and other creative fields, but only a handful really teach comic art. SCAD is one of them, and it’s programs and students blew me away. Some schools seem to teach a “house” style, or shoehorn their students into certain approaches and solutions. SCAD really stresses the narrative aspects of comics, and while they are also extremely art-intensive, they allow students to explore their own unique styles of art within the context of good storytelling. They also challenge them to work within different styles and frameworks, but ultimately I got the feeling they help them to develop their own unique voices. The facilities were mind-boggling, especially the animation studio. Rooms and rooms of 20″ Cintiqs were everywhere, and we saw some incredible grad student animation projects that were basically their graduate thesises. Digital work abounded, but that said we walked into a large room full of old-school animation light boxes and were told that every student begins with mandatory study of traditional drawing as a foundation.

During the animation building tour, we saw how much these legendary MAD artists still influence young cartoonists and animators. We were just a group of old people being led through rooms of the studio, winding our way through all these young students busy at work… we didn’t have name tags or Alfred E. Neuman with us. Tagging along the back end of the group was Jack Davis, grinning and gawking at all the artwork we saw. My wife, The Lovely Anna, was bringing up the vanguard, making sure none of the MAD guys got too interested in any of the artwork and missed the group moving on. Jack said hello, in the southern gentlemanly way Jack does, to three young ladies working on an animation project. They politely said hello back and asked him to have a nice day. I’m sure they were thinking “what a nice old man” as he wandered past. Anna leaned over to them as she came by and whispered to one of the girls, “That was Jack Davis you just said hello to.” The girl went white as a sheet and started shaking stammering… “J-J-J-J-ack DAVIS?!?” They ran after him and were so excited to meet him they barely got three words out. Jack drew a self portrait on the whiteboard and Anna took their picture with him, promising to send it to them after gathering up their email addresses. Those girls were maybe twenty years old, and they not only knew who Jack was, but they understood what a giant of cartooning he is. Great work transcends time.

Jack drawing for the animation students

Jack is an irrepressible ladies man!

Later that afternoon some of us met with groups of students to review portfolios. I had a diverse group of talent in my review session, including international students from Indonesia and Brazil (if I remember correctly). Some great talent, and an obvious desire for advice and direction. It was fun to get to meet a few of the students in the comic’s program, and see what kind of work they were doing.

That night we has a reception at the MAD Art Exhibit at SCAD’s Poetter Hall. The exhibit featured pieces from each of the visiting MAD artists, and it was a great show.

Paul Coker, Me, Jack Davis, Sergio Aragonés, Sam Viviano and Nick Meglin.
Al Jaffee was MIA… rumored to have been around the corner showing some
co-eds how he could do 100 one-handed pushups.

It goes without saying the artwork was awesome… some of the best stuff was seeing preliminary sketches and pencils as well as the finished art for several pieces by Paul Coker, as it was fascinating to see his process. Also hanging at the show were the 15 finalists of an art competition SCAD did with their comic art students. The contest was to create a Spy vs. Spy comic, and there was some innovative and creative solutions on display. It was interesting to see how some people stuck close to the original Prohias style of the Spies, and others went in much more original directions. We MAD men had to judge the finalists and select three winners.

Al, Jack and Sam at the reception

Paul Coker and me, judging the Spy vs. Spy work

Hard to believe this art snuck into the show…

The MAD Gang with the Spy vs. Spy competition winner Meg Casey, at left is
Anthony “Fish” Fisher, the Chair of SCAD’s Sequential Art Dept.

Later that evening the Southeast Chapter of the NCS and SCAD had a welcome reception for everyone at the SCAD Museum.

Saturday, Novemeber 12th-

I started the day at the official business meeting of the NCS Southeast Chapter. It was really the chapter, especially chairman Jack Pittman, Nick Meglin and Michael Jantze, (The Norm and Jantze Animation) who is both an NCS SEC member and a professor at SCAD, who were the driving force behind this whole weekend. Michael got SCAD involved, and they enthusiastically got behind the idea and helped turn it into a big event, but it was the NCS SEC that made it happen. Nick especially got these legends to come to Savannah to get together, being long-time friends with them all. They just turned their annual fall meeting into a cartooning event that made CNN and countless other news outlets. Speaking as president of the National Cartoonists Society, the SEC is a model chapter not only for putting on this event but for the way they keep active and run their group. I was greatly impressed.

Later that morning there was an informal sort of workshop conducted for NCS SEC members by the UGOI. Yep. No pressure. Just me drawing in front of a crowd with Jack Davis, Paul Coker, Al Jaffee, Sergio Aragonés and Sam Viviano. No big deal. Piece of cake. <8O

Sergio does his thing!

Jack does his thing!

My demo… I think Paul is laughing at me!!

After lunch a number of SEC members and a few MAD guys did some student workshops at the museum. These ran simultaneously and while the groups were small they were a lot of fun. I did a workshop on caricature, and other artists who participated were:

• Robert Pope:  Making the script serve the visual while preserving the author’s intent
• Andy Smith: Drawing Dynamic Comics
• John Lotshaw: Self-Publishing and distribution strategy
• Jack Cassidy: Editorial Humorous Illustration and Gag Cartooning
• James “Doodle” Lyle: Demystifying Inking
• Stephanie Gladden-Miller: Drawing Characters “On-Model”
• Sergio Aragonés: Cartooning
• Jim Massara: Presenting your Work to Editors
• Jack Pittman & Grey Blackwell: Opportunities in Cartooning

Wish I could have attended a few of those, but I was busy doing my workshop.

That night was the grand event, the MAD Chat Panel Discussion at the Trustees Theater.

The MAD Chat Panel

Wow! Big billing! Photo by Michael Jantze

The MAD gang onstage- photo by Anthony Fisher

There was a great crowd, probably around 600-700 people. The chat was moderated by the quick-witted Nick Meglin, and there were plenty of laughs, great stories and about 300 years of collective cartoon wisdom onstage. I was there for security and to sweep up afterward. Some of the funniest moments were impromptu, like when Jack’s cell phone kept going off and he couldn’t figure out how to turn off the ringer. Unfazed, Nick kept firing off one-liners about it. Jack’s sheepish grin was priceless.

Nick is merciless to poor Jack and his ringing cellphone. Al is amused.

I look on as Sergio and Sam tell a story

Nick, Jack, Al and Paul Coker

Towards the end of the panel, SEC NCS chairman Jack Pittman presented Paul Coker with the “Jack Davis Award” for outstanding achievement in cartooning. Well deserved!

Jack Pittman presents “the Jack Davis” to Paul Coker

Sergio and Sam admire Paul’s award

Afterward there was an autograph session with the whole gang, signing books, issues of MAD and all sorts of stuff…

The UGOI signing stuff. From far end: Sergio, Al, me, Sam, Paul and Jack

That’s a big line!

Me, Sam and Paul

What an awesome weekend. I missed all the mythic MAD trips, and this might be as close as I will ever get to experiencing what that was like. It was a great honor to be able to spend some time with these guys, who are all idols of mine, let alone be included among them. A BIG thanks to the NCS Southeat Chapter, especially Jack Pittman, Nick Meglin, Julie Negron and James “Doodle” Lyle for all the hard work, to SCAD for all the support and hospitality, especially Michael and Nicole Jantze, Anthony and Tera Fisher, John Lowe and all the faculty and grad students who shuttled us about and kept us out of trouble.

Oh, yeah… there was also a silent auction of donated art including some stuff from several of the MAD artists. The proceeds go to both the NCS SEC and the National Cartoonists Society Foundation/Milt Gross fund. I won this little gem done by Paul:

Jealous? Clicky to embiggen…

For those who aren’t familar with Paul Coker’s work, he didn’t just work for MAD. He has done a lot of other stuff including being the artist who did the character designs for the Rankin-Bass animated Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town and about a dozen other specials and shorts you know and love. This piece was done for MAD as part of a spoof of updated holiday programs… funny that they had the original artist to do the parody already in the fold!

Last weekend the North Central Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society had our annual fall meeting here in Minneapolis/St. Paul. Here’s a VERY brief rundown of the events:

Friday 10/14: In conjunction with the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, we brought Stephan Pastis, the creator of the syndicated comic strip Pearls Before Swine, to the Twin Cities to do a lecture and hang out with us. I know Stephan fairly well… riding together in a Blackhawk above the war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan will do that for you, so it was great fun to have him with us. His evening lecture was standing-room only. We followed with a panel discussion on the future of cartooning featuring Stephan, me, , chapter treasurer and editorial cartoonist/freelance illustrator Paul Fell, The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee creator John Hambrock, freelance illustrator James Hunganski and Ballard Street creator Jerry Van Amerongen.

It’s a packed house for Stephan’s talk

Stephan had them rolling in the aisles…

Saturday 10/15: After our boring business meeting, NCC members manned a booth at the Minnesota FallCon Comic Book Show including the above listed panelists as well as chapter chairman and “Martians” cartoonist Mike Edhlom, freelance illustrator and designer Cedric Hohnstadt, and cartoonist Phil Juliano. We sold books and signed stuff. That night we had a chapter dinner at O’Gara’s in St. Paul, part of which was formerly the barber shop of Charles Schulz‘s father. Earlier we took a little tour of St. Paul and saw a few other Sparky sights, including his childhood home on Macalester St.

At FallCon, from foreground: Stephan, Paul, Me, John and Cedric

John Hambrock signs for a fan

James Hungaski does some caricatures

From Left: John, Stephan, cartoonist Joe Engesser, me, Mike and Jerry

Paul Fell was awarded the NCS Tim Rosenthal award for outstanding service to a local chapter. Well deserved. Congratulations Paul.

A great time as always.

Q: I read on your blog that you just became the president of the National Cartoonists Society. What is the National Cartoonists Society? Assuming it’s a group of cartoonists, how do I join up?

A: The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) is an organization of professional cartoonists. It got its start back in the early 1940′s, when several cartoonists did a series of “chalk talks” for service men and women during World War II. In 1946, the NCS was officially formed at a dinner event, with Rube Goldberg as its first president, Russell Patterson as vice president, C.D. Russell as secretary and Milton Caniff as treasurer. Later in 1946, the first NCS award for “Cartoonist of the Year” was bestowed to Milton Caniff. Then known as the Billy De Beck Memorial Award, it was given each year to honor one outstanding cartoonist as voted on by the membership. In 1954, the award was renamed the Reuben, in honor of Rube Goldberg.

Since 1946, the NCS has grown to include cartoonists from all walks of the industry: comic strips and dailies, editorial cartoonists, humorous illustrators, animators, greeting card artists, gag cartoonists, comic book artists, advertising and book illustrators, web cartoonists, etc. Initiatives like the Milt Gross Fund, which provided financial assistance to indigent cartoonists and their families, was an example of some of the programs the NCS undertook over the years. In 2005, the Milt Gross Fund was absorbed by the newly formed National Cartoonists Society Foundation, a 501 (C)(3) charitable organization and the charity arm of the NCS. Today the NCSF oversees programs like the former Milt Gross Fund and the Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship, an annual scholarship award given to a qualified student via a juried application process.

Today the NCS is still going strong, with eighteen regional chapters, including one in Canada and some possibly forming in other parts of the world. The NCS has an annual awards weekend called the “Reuben Awards”, where multiple divisional awards are given out as well as the Reuben for “Cartoonist of the Year”. The event also features a slate of guest speakers, dinners and other happenings. The NCS is not a union, it’s a trade association of professionals in the cartooning industry whose main purpose is to promote cartooning in its many forms, recognize excellence in the industry and bring other professionals together to network.

In order to join you have to be a professional cartoonist. By the current guidelines, this means cartoonists who are currently earning the major part of their income from cartooning and have done so for at least the past three years. Their work must be of a high professional quality and their reputation good. Applications must include two letters of recommendation from current NCS members in good standing, a short biographical sketch and samples of current work bearing a signature. You can get all the necessary information here.

It is a great organization, and I am proud to be serving as president . . . I just wish the position paid better (translation: at ALL).

Thanks to J.G. for the question. If you have a question you want answered for the mailbag about cartooning, illustration, MAD Magazine, caricature or similar, e-mail me and I’ll try and answer it here!

Okay… this isn’t really a Ken Burns documentary. This is one of several brilliant videos shot for the NCS Reuben Awards show by Tom Gammill. This one had me in tears… Tom is one funny guy. Hopefully R.C. got a chuckle out of it. If you haven’t seen any of Tom’s “How to Draw” series of videos, get ready for a real treat.

As always, I am preempting the Sunday Mailbag on the day after the National Cartoonists Society’s Reuben Awards  to list the results: Winners are in red:

TELEVISION ANIMATION

• Dave Filoni – Supervising Director / Production Designer, “Star Wars: The Clone Wars”
• Dan Krall – Art Director, “Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated”
• Scott Wills – Art Director, “Sym-Bionic Titan”

FEATURE ANIMATION

• Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders, Directors, “How to Train Your Dragon”
• Glen Keane, Animation Director, “Tangled”
• Nicolas Marlet, Character Designer, “How to Train Your Dragon”

NEWSPAPER ILLUSTRATION

• Sean Kelly
• Michael McParlane
• Dave Whamond

GAG CARTOONS

• Bob Eckstein
• Zachary Kanin
• Gary McCoy

GREETING CARDS

• Jim Benton
• Dan Collins
• Teresa Roberts Logan

NEWSPAPER COMIC STRIPS

• Brian Bassett “Red and Rover”
• Jeff Parker and Steve Kelley “Dustin”
• Richard Thompson “Cul de Sac”

NEWSPAPER PANEL CARTOONS

• Doug Bratton “Pop Culture Therapy”
• Chad Carpenter- “Tundra”
• Glenn McCoy “Flying McCoys”

MAGAZINE FEATURE/MAGAZINE ILLUSTRATION

• Lou Brooks
• Anton Emdin
• Tom Richmond

BOOK ILLUSTRATION

• Sandra Boynton “Amazing Cows”
• Jared Lee “The 3 Wise Guys”
• Mike Lester “The Butt Book”

EDITORIAL CARTOONS

• Bob Gorrell
• Mike Lester
• Gary Varvel

ADVERTISING ILLUSTRATION

• Anton Emdin
• Jack Pittman
• Dave Whamond

COMIC BOOKS

• Stan Sakai “Usagi Yojimbo”
• Chris Samnee “Thor the Mighty Avenger”
• Jill Thompson “Beasts of Burden”

GRAPHIC NOVELS

• Darwyn Cooke- “The Outfit”
• Joyce Farmer “Special Exits”
• James Sturm- “Market Day”

And the winner of the 2010 Reuben Award for ‘Cartoonist of the Year”:

• Glen Keane
• Stephan Pastis
• Richard Thompson

Congratulations to all the winners and the nominees!

This weekend is the 65th Annual National Cartoonists Society Reuben Weekend, being held this year in Boston, MA. I am off to the event early on Wednesday to help with some preliminary preparations and some NCS Board stuff, as I have been serving as one of the vice presidents for two years. I am sure it will be a great time as usual. It’s always fun to get together with some of the world’s most talented cartoonists, get to know everybody better, talk a little shop, stammer a bit when running into some cartooning legend I have admired for years, compliment people on the work they’ve done I have enjoyed this year, and in general feel like a part of the family.

This year’s Reubens have two significant points for me:

First, I am once again nominated for a divisional award in the Magazine Illustration/Magazine Feature category. This is a huge honor, but as this will be my eighth nomination in this division and so far I have actually won zero times, I am betting heavily on one of the other two to take home the hardware. It would be nice to win this year, as I will not be submitting work for consideration the next two years because of significant point number two.

Second, I will be taking office as the 34th president of the NCS, taking over for Jeff Keane who has done a great job leading the organization for the last four years (that’s two terms).

I was somewhat reluctant to take on this responsibility, which I am told made me the perfect candidate. It will be a lot of work for what I recently found out is absolutely no pay (funny, that was not disclosed to me until it was too late!), but after some thought I decided to accept the nomination for two reasons:

One- it is a great honor. This organization has and has had members who have been no less than those who have defined the art of cartooning for over half a century. To have been nominated and ultimately elected by a group of people whom I greatly admire and respect is a tremendous honor, and I hope I can come close to living up to expectations.

Two- The NCS has done a lot for me. I’ve made lifelong friendships, met many of my heroes, gotten invaluable advice and guidance from many individuals I greatly respect and admire, been honored with several nominations and a few awards, and made some networking connections that have helped me in my career. I look at my time serving in office as giving back to an organization that has given much to me.

I’m looking forward to serving the NCS as president for the next two years. Hopefully any movement to impeach me gets tied up long enough for me to duck out gracefully.

The National Cartoonists Society Foundation, the charitable arm of the NCS, announced the winner of the 2011 Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship yesterday:

2011 Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship Winner

March 28th, 2011

The National Cartoonists Society Foundation (NCSF) is happy to announce the winner of the 2011 Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship.

Diana Huh, is a sophomore at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) where she studies history. Huh was chosen from over 100 applicants for the award, which includes a $5,000 scholarship and a trip to the National Cartoonists Society’s Reuben Award weekend in Boston in May. The scholarship applicants submitted eight examples of their work along with an entry form that included short essays on their current and future plans in cartooning. Entries were judged by a jury of seven professional cartoonists who are members of the National Cartoonists Society Foundation.

Huh is an illustrator for UCLA’s newspaper The Daily Bruin and is presently interning at Greenhouse Studios assisting on coloring the comic “Mace and Sputnik.” She has also created an on-going web comic called “The Wayside Manor.”

You can check out her artwork on DeviantART. Diana is a tremendous talent. Congratulations!

The nominees for this year’s National Cartoonists Society’s Divisional Awards have been officially announced. They are:

TELEVISION ANIMATION

• Dave Filoni – Supervising Director / Production Designer, “Star Wars: The Clone Wars”
• Dan Krall – Art Director, “Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated”
• Scott Wills – Art Director, “Sym-Bionic Titan”

FEATURE ANIMATION

• Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders, Directors, “How to Train Your Dragon”
• Glen Keane, Animation Director, “Tangled”
• Nicolas Marlet, Character Designer, “How to Train Your Dragon”

NEWSPAPER ILLUSTRATION

• Sean Kelly
• Michael McParlane
• Dave Whamond

GAG CARTOONS

• Bob Eckstein
• Zachary Kanin
• Gary McCoy

GREETING CARDS

• Jim Benton
• Dan Collins
• Teresa Roberts Logan

NEWSPAPER COMIC STRIPS

• Brian Bassett “Red and Rover”
• Jeff Parker and Steve Kelley “Dustin”
• Richard Thompson “Cul de Sac”

NEWSPAPER PANEL CARTOONS

• Doug Bratton “Pop Culture Therapy”
• Chad Carpenter- “Tundra”
• Glenn McCoy “Flying McCoys”

MAGAZINE FEATURE/MAGAZINE ILLUSTRATION

• Lou Brooks
• Anton Emdin
• Tom Richmond

BOOK ILLUSTRATION

• Sandra Boynton “Amazing Cows”
• Jared Lee “The 3 Wise Guys”
• Mike Lester “The Butt Book”

EDITORIAL CARTOONS

• Bob Gorrell
• Mike Lester
• Gary Varvel

ADVERTISING ILLUSTRATION

• Anton Emdin
• Jack Pittman
• Dave Whamond

COMIC BOOKS

• Stan Sakai “Usagi Yojimbo”
• Chris Samnee “Thor the Mighty Avenger”
• Jill Thompson “Beasts of Burden”

GRAPHIC NOVELS

• Darwyn Cooke- “The Outfit”
• Joyce Farmer “Special Exits”
• James Sturm- “Market Day”

They join the previously announced nominees for the Reuben Award for ‘Cartoonist of the Year”:

• Glen Keane
• Stephan Pastis
• Richard Thompson

in being honored at the 65th annual Reuben Awards, held this year in Boston, MA on Memorial Day weekend. Winners will be announced at the annual Reuben dinner.

Congratulations to all the nominees!

EDIT- I am always deeply honored if I receive a nomination for one of these divisions, as I have for Magazine Illustration/Magazine Feature this year. Thanks to the NCS Canadian Chapter for the honor!

The official ballots have been issued to all professional members of the National Cartoonists Society, and the nominees for the Reuben Award for “Cartoonist of the Year” are:

• Glen Keane
• Stephan Pastis
• Richard Thompson

Glen Keane is an animator, author, illustrator and director who’s credits include The Little Mermaid (Ariel), Aladdin (Aladdin), Beauty and the Beast (Beast), Tarzan (Tarzan) and most recently Tangled (Rapunzel) for Walt Disney Studios. He has recieved the received the 1992 Annie Award for character animation and the 2007 Winsor McCay Award for lifetime contribution to the field of animation. This is Glen’s first nomination

Stephan Pastis is the artist/writer/creator of  the daily comic strip “Pearls Before Swine”, syndicated by United Feature Syndicate. He won the NCS divisional award for “Best Comic Strip” in 2003 and 2006. This is Stephan’s third nomination.

Richard Thompson is the artist/writer/creator of  the daily comic strip “Cul de Sac” syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate, as well as an illustrator and cartoonist on other features. He is the creator of the weekly cartoon series “Poor Richard’s Almanac” which runs in the Washington Post, and his illustrations have appeared in numerous publications including U.S. News and World Report, National Geographic and The New Yorker. He has won NCS divisional awards for Magazine and Book Illustration in 1995 and Newspaper Illustration also in 1995. He won a Gold and a Silver Funny Bone Award in 1989 from the Society of Illustrators for humorous illustration. This is Richard’s second nomination.

The winner of the 2010 “Cartoonist of the year” will be announced on May 28th at the annual NCS Reuben Awards dinner in Boston, MA.

Congrats on the nominations!

Every year the National Cartoonists Society gets together for a weekend of fun, seminars and speakers culminating in the Reuben Awards dinner. Known as the Oscars of cartooning, the Reuben Awards honors the “Cartoonist of the Year” with the coveted “Reuben” and also recognizes many other cartoonists for excellence in a variety of categories.

It’s that time of year again, and entries for consideration for the various divisions are due on February 6th.

It’s important to understand these awards are for excellence in professional cartooning as a whole, not for NCS members only. You do not have to be a member to be considered for a divisional award. The only criteria for entry is that the work is professionally published (i.e. not self published) in 2010. Actually they include the final month of the previous year as well, so the work must be documented as published between December 1st, 2009 and December 31st, 2010.

Here’s the rundown of the what, where and when from the National Cartoonists Society website, including links to the entry form and bio sheet:

It’s time to prepare your entry for the National Cartoonists Society
Division Awards.

Below, you will see the list of the juries which will judge the categories, the jury chair and the address to which you will send your
entry.

Please remember only recent work can be considered. This means work published between the dates of December 1, 2009 and December 31, 2010. Please submit published tear sheets when possible and document when and where the work was published. Members of the National Cartoonists Society and nonmembers may submit.

Each entry must be accompanied by a completed ENTRY FORM and a BIO SHEET.

PLEASE NOTE: ALL SUBMISSIONS TO BE PRINTED AND MAILED. NO EMAIL SUBMISSIONS PLEASE.

The winners will be announced at the 65th Annual Reuben Awards Dinner on May 28, 2011.

Cartoonists are invited to submit their work (or the work of anyone else) no later than February 6, 2011, for consideration for one or more of the following Division Awards:

TELEVISION ANIMATION
Submit one or more samples in VHS or DVD format of aired or exhibited
work that was released in the year 2010 to: Rob Smith, Jr., NCS
Florida Chapter, PO Box 540103, Orlando, FL 32854-0103
(ncs@robsmithjr.com)

FEATURE ANIMATION
Submit one or more samples in VHS or DVD format of aired or exhibited
work that was released in the year 2010 to: David Folkman, NCS Los
Angeles Chapter, 6171 W. Century Blvd. #160, Los Angeles, CA 90045
(folkmanart@aol.com)

NEWSPAPER ILLUSTRATION
Submit 6 samples of published work to: Adrian Sinnott, NCS Long Island
Chapter, 27 East 24th Street, Huntington Station, NY 11746-3701
(acsinnott@adriansinnott.com)

GAG CARTOONS
Submit 12 samples of published work to: Mike Edholm, NCS North Central
Chapter, 2108 Sandstone Road, Lincoln, NE 08512 (medholm1@mac.com)

GREETING CARDS
Submit 6 samples of published work to: Ron Evry, NCS DC Chapter, 2880
Cedar Crest Court, Woodbridge, VA 22192-3119 (revry@panix.com)

NEWSPAPER COMIC STRIPS
Submit 12 samples of published work to: Polly Keener, NCS Great Lakes
Chapter, 400 W. Fairlawn Blvd., Akron, OH 44313-4510
(pollytoon@aol.com)

NEWSPAPER PANEL CARTOONS
Submit 12 samples of published work to: Doug Bratton, NCS Metro
Chapter, 17 Crestmont Drive, Dover, NJ 07801 (bratcartoonist1@aol.com)

MAGAZINE FEATURE/MAGAZINE ILLUSTRATION
Submit 6 samples of published work to: Patricia Storms, NCS Canadian
Chapter, 65 Bernice Crescent, Toronto, Ontario CANADA M6N 1W7
(gpstorms@rogers.com)

BOOK ILLUSTRATION
Send up to 6 samples of published work to: Jack Pittman, NCS Southeast
Chapter, 1740 Brooks Avenue, Raleigh, NC 27607-6618
(jack@jackpittman.net)

EDITORIAL CARTOONS
Submit 12-20 samples of published work to: Brian Walker, NCS
Connecticut Chapter, 34 Old Forge Rd., Wilton, CT 06897-3707
(hiandlois1@aol.com)

ADVERTISING ILLUSTRATION
Submit 4 samples of published and marketed work to: Graham Nolan, NCS
Upstate NY Chapter, 162 Godfrey Terrace, East Aurora, NY 14052
(gnolan@sunshinestatecomics.com)

COMIC BOOKS
Submit 3 samples of published work to: David Coulson, NCS Pennsylvania
Chapter, 6425 Wilkins Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15217
(ndavid.coulson@gmail.com)

GRAPHIC NOVELS
Submit book published in 2010 to: Mike Lynch, NCS National
Representative, 61 Nutes Road, Milton, NH 03851-4800
(mike@mikelynchcartoons.com)

Once again: Each entry must be accompanied by a completed ENTRY FORM
and a BIO SHEET. ALL SUBMISSIONS TO BE PRINTED AND MAILED. NO EMAIL
SUBMISSIONS PLEASE.

The submission deadline is February 6, 2010.