NCS membership nomination voting has been tabulated, and the nominees for the 2013 Reuben Award for “Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year” are:

• Wiley Miller

• Stephan Pastis

• Hilary Price

• Mark Tatulli

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Wiley Miller is the creator of Non Sequitur, a daily comic strip syndicated by Universal UClick. Started in 1992,  Non Sequitur has been honored with four National Cartoonists Society Divisional Awards, including Best Newspaper Comic Strip in 1992, and Best Newspaper Panel in 1995, 1996 and 1998. It was the first comic strip to win in its first year of syndication and the only title to ever win both the best comic strip and best comic panel categories. Wiley also worked as an editorial cartoonist for newspapers including the San Fransisco Examiner. This is Wiley’s first nomination for the Reuben award. You can visit Non Sequitur online here.

Stephan Pastis is the creator of the daily comic strip Pearls Before Swine, syndicated by Universal Uclick. Stephan practiced law in the San Fransisco Bay area before following his love of cartooning and eventually seeing syndication with Pearls, which was launched in newspapers beginning December 31, 2001. The National Cartoonists Society awarded Pearls Before Swine the Best Newspaper Comic Strip in 2003 and in 2006. Stephan is also the author of the children’s book series Timmy Failure. Stephan lives in northern California with his wife Staci and their two children. This is his sixth nomination for the Reuben award. Visit Stephan’s blog and the Pearls Before Swine website.

Hilary Price is the creator of Rhymes With Orange, a daily newspaper comic strip syndicated by King Features Syndicate. Created in 1995, Rhymes With Orange has thrice won the NCS Best Newspaper Panel Division (2007, 2009 and 2012). Her work has also appeared in Parade Magazine, The Funny Times, People and Glamour. When she began drawing Rhymes With Orange, she was the youngest woman to ever have a syndicated strip. Hilary draws the strip in an old toothbrush factory that has since been converted to studio space for artists. She lives in western Massachusetts. This is Hilary’s first nomination for the Reuben award. You can visit Rhymes With Orange online here.

Mark Tatulli is the creator of Heart of the City and Lio, both daily newspaper comic strips syndicated by Universal Uclick. Heart of the City debuted in 1998. Lio, one of the few fully pantomime strips in major syndication, began running in 2006 and earned Mark an NCS divisional award for Best Newspaper Strip in 2008. In addition to his comic strip work, Mark is also an animator and television producer, known for his work on the cable reality television series Trading Spaces and A Wedding Story, and the winner of three Emmy awards. Mark lives and works in New Jersey with his wife Donna ans their three children. This is Mark’s first nomination for the Reuben award. You can visit Heart of the City online here and Lio here.

The official ballots have been issued to all full members of the National Cartoonists Society for voting to determine the winner. Congratulations to the nominees!

The winner of the 2013 “Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year” will be announced on May 24th at the annual NCS Reuben Awards dinner in San Diego, CA.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE & REPOST

Contact: Steven Wyatt
E-mail: stevew@bigwowcomicfest.com

CAPS TO LAUNCH ART AUCTION FEATURING ORIGINAL WORKS BY MATT GROENING, JACK DAVIS, MIKE MIGNOLA J. SCOTT CAMPBELL, ADAM HUGHES AND HUNDREDS MORE TO BENEFIT FELLOW CARTOONIST STAN SAKAI AND FAMILY

On Thursday, March 6, 2014, Southern California’s CAPS, the Comic Art Professional Society, will launch an ongoing series of eBay auctions of original comic art. Its goal is to raise funds for medical care for Sharon Sakai, the wife of respected cartoonist and longtime CAPS member Stan Sakai, creator of the samurai rabbit USAGI YOJIMBO. Sharon has been battling a debilitating brain tumor for some time; after an extended hospital stay and convalescence, she is currently at home, but her condition requires 24-hour care and medicine that costs more than the Sakai’s insurance covers. 100% of the proceeds of these auctions will go directly to Stan and Sharon Sakai to help pay their ongoing medical expenses.

The CAPS auctions will be conducted through eBay.com beginning on Thursday, March 6, with a new set of auctions every following Thursday. Each auction, sold under the seller name of “CAPSauction”, will be ten days in length with twenty to forty items in each set of auctions. The donations of original artwork and collectibles (including newly created art unique to this event, vintage comic book pages, comic strips, illustrations, animation art, limited edition statues, and IDW Artist’s editions books) number over three hundred with new items arriving every day.

Contributors include:  Adam Hughes, Alex Maleev, Arthur Adams, Batton Lash, Eric Powell, Jan Duursema, Jerry Ordway, Jordi Bernet, Matt Groening, Michael Allred, Mike Mignola, Paul Gulacy, Sanjuliàn, Scott Shaw!, Jim Steranko, Tim Sale, William Stout, Bill Sienkiewicz, Cameron Stewart,  Dan Brereton, Daniel Parsons, Dave Gibbons, Dean Yeagle, Doug Sneyd, Dustin Nguyen, Bill Morrison, Tone Rodriguez, Sergio Aragonés, Fabio Moon, Francisco Francavilla, Gene Ha, Geof Darrow, Gilbert Hernandez, Jack Davis, James O’Barr, Kevin Eastman, Jeff Lemire, Jeff Smith, Kazu Kibuishi, Liam Sharp, Tom Richmond, Michael Jantze, Olivia, Oscar Martin, Paul Chadwick, Richard Corben, Tom Mandrake, Walter Simonson, Charles Vess, Dan Spiegle, J. Scott Campbell and many more.

Many of the pieces featuring Usagi Yojimbo will appear in a new oversized hardcover book from Dark Horse, THE SAKAI PROJECT: ARTISTS CELEBRATE THIRTY YEARS OF USAGI YOJIMBO, which will be released on July 23, 2014. All proceeds from this book will go to Stan and Sharon Sakai. Much of the custom Usagi Yojimbo art created for this book will also be sold as a part of CAPS’ online auctions.

These fund-raising auctions will be promoted through ComicArtFans.com, and the CAPS – COMIC ART PROFESSIONAL SOCIETY Facebook page where you will be able to see updated information such as when certain pieces will be auctioned.

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If you would like more information on CAPS’ Sakai Benefit Auction or Dark Horse’s THE SAKAI PROJECT book, please contact Steven Wyatt at stevew@bigwowcomicfest.com.

Taken in 2004 during healthier days, Stan & Sharon Sakai visiting the ancient aqueducts of Segovia, Spain.  photo credit: © 2004 Stan Sakai

CAPS will be auctioning this rare original drawing of Bone by creator Jeff Smith who teamed his character up with Stan Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo.

Known for his exquisite work with female characters, J. Scott Campbell created this wonderful ink drawing to benefit Sharon & Stan Sakai in the CAPS auction.

The official 2014 Reuben Awards brochure should be in members mailboxes by now! Here’s the speaker lineup for the big Reuben Awards weekend:

• Eddie Pittman- Animator, illustrator, creator of the online graphic novel Red’s Planet
• Chris Houghton- Animator, comic artist, illustrator, 2009 winner of the NCSF Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship
• Greg Evans- 2003 Reuben Award winning creator of the syndicated comic strip Luann.
• Suzy Spafford- Creator of Suzy’s Zoo, greeting card/product/licensing entrepenuer
• Sandra Bell-Lundy- Creator of the syndicated comic strip Between Friends, which is celebrating 20 years in syndication.
• Bunny Hoest Carpenter and John Reiner- Recipients of the 2014 NCS Gold Key Award (The NCS Hall of Fame), creative team on the syndicated panel cartoon The Lockhorns
• Russ Heath- Comics legend and recipient of the 2014 NCS Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award

The Reuben Awards show will also feature:

• Tom Gammill- TV writer, producer on The Simpsons and the host of the Reuben Awards show
• “Weird Al” Yankovic- Grammy winning musician, humorist, winner of the 2014 NCS A.C.E. Award (Amateur Cartoonist Extraordinaire)

Along the way we’ll have some fun parties, sing some karaoke, draw during a public meet and greet aboard the USS MIDWAY and honor a few cartoonists with some awards.

The 2014 Reuben Awards Weekend will take place May 23rd-25th in San Diego, CA!

First, a reminder to all that the submissions for consideration for the National Cartoonists Society’s divisional awards are due on Saturday, Feb 15th! Here’s a list of all the divisions, the requirements for eligibility, and where to send the submissions.

I’m pleased to say that the online divisions have been receiving a good number of submissions, which is terrific. Even better, we expanded the Online Comics Committee to include several other very knowledgeable and “plugged in” webcomics folks to help with the process. In addition to our committee members from last year:

• Bill Amend- Creator of Foxtrot
• David Allan Duncan- Professor of Sequential Art Graduate Coordinator, Savannah College of Art and Design
• Andrew Farago- Curator, Cartoon Art Museum, San Francisco
• Rick Marshall- Freelance Writer, Editor, and Producer, Time Inc., MTV News, IFC, Movies.com, Digital Trends, CBR
• Gary Tyrrell- Writer/Editor, Fleen.com

This year we are pleased to have added:

• Johanna Draper Carlson- Creator of and reviewer on Comics Worth Reading
• Brigid Alverson- Comics journalist- Robot 6, MangaBlog, Publishers Weekly, Comic Book Resources, MTV Geek, Etc.
• David Brothers- Comics journalist- ComicsAlliance
• Lauren Davis- Comics journalist- ComicsAlliance

So what does the Online Comics Committee do? You can read a detailed post about the process, along with the debunking of several misconceptions, here. but this is the short version:

1. The vet the submissions for eligibility including publication dates, frequency of publication, eligibility for NCS membership and other requirements
2. They recommend webcomics they feel reflect the best work of the last year, and also meet eligibility requirements
3. They recommend ways to make this process better next year

The web is so vast and there are so many comics out there that the input and expertise of a group of knowledgeable individuals like those above are an invaluable part of the process. Like all the other NCS divisions, we try and look outside the submitted work for cartooning that represents the best in the industry, not just among NCS members. The Online Comics Committee is very generously giving the NCS their time and expertise to help meet that goal with the online divisions.

Another move with these divisions this year is that, rather than the NCS board doing the jurying, they are being given to local chapters like the other divisions are judged. Overseen by a board advisor, the selection of the nominees and winner will be done by a chapter (which will change each year), with the field having been vetted for eligibility first. That puts the field in front of fresh eyes every year.

For those online comics creators who are still procrastinating on their submissions, you can email them as a PDF to the relevant recipient up until Saturday night… so you still have time!