Featuring in order of appearance: Stephan Pastis (Pearls Before Swine), Jeff Keane (Family Circus and NCS President), Jerry Scott (Baby Blues, Zits), Bill Hinds (Tank McNamara, Cleats), Mark Tatulli (Lio, Heart of the City), Sean Parkes (Illustrator) and Tom Gammill (The Doozies).

FEATURE ANIMATION

Ronnie del Carmen – Storyboard Artist – “Up”
Tomm Moore – Director – “The Secret of Kells”
Barry Reynolds – Character Designer – “The Secret of Kells”

NEWSPAPER ILLUSTRATION
Bob Rich
Tom Richmond
Robert Sanchuk

GAG CARTOONS
Glenn McCoy
VG Myers
Dave Whamond

GREETING CARDS
Glenn McCoy
Kieran Meehan
Debbie Tomassi

NEWSPAPER COMIC STRIPS
John Hambrock – “The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee”
Wiley Miller – “Non Sequitur”
Jerry Scott & Jim Borgman – “Zits”

NEWSPAPER PANEL CARTOONS
Dave Blazek – “Loose Parts”
Tony Carillo – “FMinus”
Hilary Price – “Rhymes with Orange”

MAGAZINE FEATURE/MAGAZINE ILLUSTRATION
Ray Alma
Anton Emdin
Tom Richmond

BOOK ILLUSTRATION
Lou Brooks – “Twimericks”
Tom Richmond – “Bo Confidential”
Dave Whamond – “My Think-A-Ma-Jink”

EDITORIAL CARTOONS
Nick Anderson
Rob Rogers
John Sherffius

ADVERTISING ILLUSTRATION
Steve Brodner
Randall Enos
Mort Gerberg

COMIC BOOKS
Terry Moore – “Echo”
Paul Pope – “Strange Adventures”
JH Williams – “Detective Comics”

GRAPHIC NOVELS
David Mazzucchelli – “Asterios Polyp”
Seth – “George Sprott”
David Small – “Stitches”

TELEVISION ANIMATION
Kevin Deters – “Walt Disney Prep and Landing”
Mike Gray – “The Infinite Goliath”
Seth McFarlane – “Family Guy”

Comic Book Division Award: Paul Pope (“Strange Adventures”)
Editorial Cartoon Award: John Sherffius
Gag Cartoon Division Award: Dave Whamond
Animation Feature Division Award: Ronnie Del Carmen (“Up”)
Television Animation Division Award: Seth MacFarlane (“Family Guy”)
Newspaper Illustration Award: Bob Rich
Newspaper Panel Award: Tony Carillo (“F-Minus”)
Graphic Novel Award: Seth (“George Sprott”)
Greeting Card Award: Glenn Mccoy
Advertising Ilustration Award: Mort Gerberg
Newspaper Strip Division Award: Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman (“Zits”)

And the big one, The Reuben Award is predicted to go to: Dan Piraro (“Bizarro”)

I’ll be posting the actual winners as I learn about them – hopefully in real-time or early Sunday morning.



FEATURE ANIMATION
Ronnie del Carmen – Storyboard Artist – “Up”
Tomm Moore – Director – “The Secret of Kells”
Barry Reynolds – Character Designer – “The Secret of Kells”

NEWSPAPER ILLUSTRATION
Bob Rich
Tom Richmond
Robert Sanchuk

GAG CARTOONS
Glenn McCoy
VG Myers
Dave Whamond

GREETING CARDS
Glenn McCoy
Kieran Meehan
Debbie Tomassi

NEWSPAPER COMIC STRIPS
John Hambrock – “The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee”
Wiley Miller – “Non Sequitur”
Jerry Scott & Jim Borgman – “Zits”

NEWSPAPER PANEL CARTOONS
Dave Blazek – “Loose Parts”
Tony Carillo – “FMinus”
Hilary Price – “Rhymes with Orange”

MAGAZINE FEATURE/MAGAZINE ILLUSTRATION
Ray Alma
Anton Emdin
Tom Richmond

BOOK ILLUSTRATION
Lou Brooks – “Twimericks”
Tom Richmond – “Bo Confidential”
Dave Whamond – “My Think-A-Ma-Jink”

EDITORIAL CARTOONS
Nick Anderson
Rob Rogers
John Sherffius

ADVERTISING ILLUSTRATION
Steve Brodner
Randall Enos
Mort Gerberg

COMIC BOOKS
Terry Moore – “Echo”
Paul Pope – “Strange Adventures”
JH Williams – “Detective Comics”

GRAPHIC NOVELS
David Mazzucchelli – “Asterios Polyp”
Seth – “George Sprott”
David Small – “Stitches”

In this roster of the first 16 Reuben winners, only one cartooned outside of newspaper pages. Ronald Searle. All the rest were syndicated newspaper cartoonists. And all but three made their marks with comic strips. NCS’s bias in favor of syndicated comic strip cartoonists was blatant from the beginning, and it has persisted through the club’s 54 years.

You will look in vain for Jack Kirby’s name in the lists of NCS awards; ditto Harvey Kurtzman, Joe Shuster, Jerry Siegel, Jack Cole, Peter Arno, Helen Hokinson, Charles Addams, George Price, the Berenstains (Stan and Janice), Robert Osborn, David Levine, Gluyas Williams, Rea Ivin, Gardner Rea, Edward Gorey, Virgil Partch (Vip). To name a few, too few.

The dubious tradition continues this year. As determined by a vote of the membership, this year’s finalists for the 2009 Reuben are: Dan Piraro for his panel cartoon Bizarro; Stephen Pastis for his strip Pearls Before Swine; and Richard Thompson for his strip Cul de Sac. All three are syndicated newspaper cartoonists.

In naming this year’s finalists, drawn from the syndicated ranks, NCS once again slights a vast acreage of cartooning endeavor, arenas of cartooning in which superior efforts have been made by highly skilled professionals typically ignored by NCS. Even a cursory perusal of the medium’s history turns up names of still living still producing cartoonists whose work is more deserving of Reuben recognition than, for instance, this year’s two newcomers, however worthy their efforts. Here are some of those neglected acres and the thus-far Reuben bypassed cartoonists who’ve distinguished themselves plowing through them:

Reactions to their nominations will be posted as I get them.

UPDATE #1:
I was able to get a hold of Richard and Stephan to get their reactions to the news. I could tell Richard was still in a bit of shock. He got his call last Friday with the news. In his words he was “gob-stopped.”

Stephan said, “What really matters about the Reuben is that, unless you do political cartoons, this is the biggest award you can get. It’s the same award that Larson, Schulz and Watterson had. And it’s your own peers that judge your work, that alone makes a nomination worth something.”

Thanks,
Alan

Mike Lynch has posted the last remaining National Cartoonist Society’s division award (Book Illustration). The nominees are: Jim Benton Cherise the Niece, Stacy Curtis Raymond and Graham Rule the School and Mike Lester Cool Daddy Rat. Congrats to the nominees.

The complete list is now:

Reuben Award
Dave Coverly
Stephan Pastis
Dan Piraro

Television Animation
Bryan Arnett – Character Design – “The Mighty B!” – Nickelodeon
Ben Balistreri – Character Design – “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends” – Cartoon Network
Sandra Equihua and Jorge Gutierrez – Creators – “El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera” – Nickelodeon

Feature Animation
James Baxter – 2D Character Animator – “Kung Fu Panda”
Clay Katis – Supervising Animator, Rhino – “Bolt”
Nicolas Marlet – Character Designer – “Kung Fu Panda”

Newspaper Illustration
Lars Leetaru
Mark Marturello
Sean Kelly

Gag Cartoons
Pat Byrnes
Mort Gerberg
Werner Wejp-Olsen

Greeting Cards
Kevin Ahern
Jem Sullivan
Debbie Tomassi

Newspaper Comic Strips
Stephan Pastis – “Pearls Before Swine” – United Feature Syndicate
Mark Tatulli – “Lio” – Universal Press Syndicate
Richard Thompson – “Cul de Sac” – Universal Press Syndicate

Newspaper Panel Cartoons
Vic Lee “Pardon My Planet” – King Features Syndicate
Mark Parisi “Off the Mark” – United Feature Syndicate
Jeff Stahler “Moderately Confused” – United Feature Syndicate

Magazine Feature/Magazine Illustration
Daryl Collins
Bob Staake
Sam Viviano

Book Illustration
Jim Benton Cherise the Niece
Stacy Curtis Raymond and Graham Rule the School
Mike Lester Cool Daddy Rat

Editorial Cartoons
Mike Luckovich
Jeff Parker
Michael Ramirez

Advertising Illustration
Roy Doty
Craig McKay
Jack Pittman

Comic Books
Chris Blain Gus & His Gang – First Second Books
Matthew Forsythe Ojingogo – Drawn & Quarterly
Cyril Pedrosa Three Shadows – First Second Books

Winners will be announced this year’s annual NCS Reuben Awards banquet on May 23, 2009 in Hollywood, CA.