NCS Reubens Report- Day Two

There were seminars on Saturday by the irrepressible Mort Gerberg and the adorable Sandra Boynton, but I had to miss them both as I was busy inking a MAD job all afternoon. I did get to get dressed up and go to the awards ceremony that evening, though!

Al Jaffee and Mel Lazarus

First off, the winner of the Reuben for “Cartoonist of the Year”: Al Jaffee. Al is such a great guy and such an inspirational talent. Even though this award is really supposed to recognize the achievements of the past year’s work of a cartoonist, in this case it was really more of a lifetime achievement award… no argument from me there. Is that fair? I guess that is a legitimate question. The other nominee’s for the Reuben, Dave Coverly and Dan Piraro, do outstanding work and there is no doubt they will stand on that stage in the very near future and accept that award. It may not be exactly right, but the Reuben has often gone to a cartoonist who is either never won one, is retiring, is near the end of their career or is just plain been overlooked for a long time. Will Eisner, Jack Davis, Matt Groening and other recent recipients fall into that category. In Al’s case it was that way (even though he still does great work regularly), but members were free to vote for whomever they wished to so it’s really always up to them to decide who they want it to go to. I am very happy for Al, and I will be equally happy for Dave and Dan when they inevitably are similarly honored.

This is a necessarily short post. Here are a complete list of winners and some pictures from the evening:

Book Illustration

• Sandra Boynton – “Blue Moo”

TV Animation

• Stephen Silver – Character Design – “Kim Possible”

Greeting Cards

• Dave Mowder

Newspaper Comic Strips

• Jim Meddick ?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ” “Monty”

Editorial Cartoon

• Bill Schorr

Magazine Illustration

• Daryll Collins

Newspaper Illustration

• Sean Kelly

Feature Animation

• David Silverman ?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ” Director ?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ” “The Simpson’s Movie”

Gag Cartoon

• Mort Gerberg

Comic Book

• Shaun Tan ?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ” “The Arrival”

Advertising Illustration

• Tom Richmond

Newspaper Panel

• Chad Carpenter ?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ” “Tundra”

One out of two for me… I was thrilled to recieve the divisional Reuben for Advertising Illustration… presented by the great Jack Davis. That was thrilling to say the least. Here are some pictures. More to come later:

Joyce and Al Jaffee, me, Dena and Jack Davis

Sergio Aragones critiques Sam Viviano as he does a sketch

The mega-talented Sandra Boynton

Sam and Sergio ham it up