Locher Memorial Award entries due March 15

The John Locher Memorial Award for best college editorial cartoonist entry date is March 15. The winner receives a $1,000 cash prize as well as all-expense paid trip to this year’s Association of American Editorial Cartoonists convention hosted in Salt Lake City, UT.

There is a $10 entry fee. Entrants must be 25 or younger and undergraduates in a college or university in Canada, the US or Mexico. Visit the AAEC website for rules and entry form.

The award was named after John Locher, the son of Dick and Mary Locher. Dick is a Pulitzer-prize-winning editorial cartoonist with the Chicago Tribune and former cartoonist for the Dick Tracy comic strip.

11 thoughts on “Locher Memorial Award entries due March 15

  1. BOO for being 25 or younger!!! What about us ‘older’ inkslingers who came to our senses later in life and decided to pursue our degrees then? Discrimination, I say! Age-bias!
    Ok, now that I have that off my chest, I will put forth my hypothesis that perhaps, the conductors of this contest are afraid us ‘old dogs’ will embarass the younger set. I definitely try to humble and humiliate when the opportunity presents itself. Wishin I could go ‘back in time’ about 24 years so I could kick some youngsters hindparts in this contest!!!

  2. The contest is what it is; for persons interested in editorial cartooning at a young age.

    Personally I wouldn’t care to go back 25 years for a prize in a contest. If you have the chops, show them, life is no less a contest my friend.

  3. Thanks, Donald. I have the chops….just locked out of the competition. I have a wall full of awards. I LOVE competition and despise losing. FIERCE competitor. Was just making an ‘editorial comment’ on the age-bias of this contest. Trust me, I’ve seen some of the work that’s garnered national acclaim over the last few years from the college ranks…..most of it is just that…..rank….as in rancidly bad.
    I’ve been creating editorial toons for about 10 years now….I LOVE to stir things up. :0)

  4. Isn’t it unfair for you to compete against young people who have not your years and awards? Are young people not entitled to compete fairly with peers?

    Babe Ruth league players would kick ‘hindparts’ in little league too,

    If you ignore the rules its not really competition. Get a job if you can, but don’t cry that they won’t let you take candy from babies please.

    ‘Ageism’? Personaly I do not wish to avoid it, considering the alternative. No doubt Methusilah had the same complaint.X>).

  5. wow, Donald….did I somehow manage to offend you? Such verbal venom ….and from a pizza delivery guy who refers to himself as a ‘comic book shaman’. I guess you told me, huh?

    My post….which, by the way, was aimed at the original post….quite correctly pointed out an obvious case of age-bais in the rules for this contest. A contest, I might add (since you apparently didn’t read the original post) was designed for ‘COLLEGE STUDENTS’….of which I am one. So you see, my friend, I would meet the requirements as one of their ‘peers’. I AM …..ostrasized from the competition because and only because of my age.

    As for your quip to me to ‘get a job’….I have 3….and am taking classes to get my 4-yr degree….and am happily married and my wife and I have 5 kids. I realize that most of what I said right there is beyond your comprehension seeing as how you have neither ‘a girlfriend or kids’…..but there it is. Perhaps, one of your fellow comicbook shaman pal will decipher this for you.

    With that, I bid you a most fond farewell. I have other more pressing issues to tackle than to try to explain myself or my interests to you.

  6. I don’t dislike you Mike, but I don’t like namecalling. Your compaints about this contest sound just like Lance Armstrong’s with bike racing…fierce competitor who makes the rules what he likes.

    I’m glad you have a family, you post like a child.

  7. Too bad you have to be an undergraduate student. I’m only 24 so I meet the age requirement but I finished university two years ago. I also never bothered with my school newspaper since I didn’t know we had one until my senior year and I never saw anyone actually read it.

    If they’re willing to waive those requirements I’d totally jump on this. On one hand, I could use $1000, but on the other I don’t know how much I want to hang out in a room with a bunch of old guys.

  8. The Locher Award was created in memory of John Locher, who died suddenly at age 25, just as he was starting his career as a cartoonist.

    It was designed to encourage young cartoonists who were serious about pursuing a career in editorial cartooning. Until recently, that meant someone who was serious about newspapers and journalism as well (hence the requirement you cared enough to get your work published in the school paper.)

    This isn’t just about going to some convention to collect a prize ? even when there was a viable newspaper business, breaking into this field was difficult, and the Lochers and previous winners have provided a long-running network of support to newcomers. Over a dozen past recipients are still working as editorial cartoonists today (including at least one Pulitzer Prize winner), and all cite the group of friends and family formed around the award as a key part of their success.

  9. Interesting history. Unfortunately there is no editorial cartooning career to break into today so it’s not something I can be serious about or take to a level beyond a casual hobby. I don’t know how much value a support network of cartoonists who are struggling just to keep their own jobs could provide in this case.

  10. ‘I don?t know how much value a support network of cartoonists who are struggling just to keep their own jobs could provide in this case.’

    Such a support system can teach a lot and cost little. Compared to a college education that costs dearly and teaches only the importance of a paycheck.

    Just because the delivery system is in flux does not negate the use or value of cartooning. Surviving as an artist is always a matter of adapting to your situation. I find doing what I choose, and what I love worth the effort. The mentoring I’ve received from countless artists and cartoonists since high school, say 1975, was critical to becoming an accomplished artist and human being.

    Marie, you are already plugged into basic options with your tumblr posts, and I like your work very much. Right now an artist has to make her own breaks. Check out Monica Gallahger for many ideas here-http://eatyourlipstick.com/?utm_source=Comic+Orderers&utm_campaign=cb9e8264ee-Voila_New_Website8_22_2012&utm_medium=email.

Comments are closed.

Top