Doug Wright Award

Doug Wright Award
Doug Wright Award
	Doug Wright Award trophy, designed by Seth, using an image from Doug Wright's Family
Awarded for	Achievement in English-language Canadian comics
Country	Canada
Reward(s)	Wood-and-glass trophy
Website	http://www.dougwrightawards.com

The Doug Wright Awards for Canadian Cartooning (established in December 2004)^[1] are literary awards handed out annually since 2005 during the Toronto Comic Arts Festival to Canadian cartoonists honouring excellence in comics (including webcomics) and graphic novels published in English (including translated works).^[2] The awards are named in honour of Canadian cartoonist Doug Wright.^[3] Winners are selected by a jury of Canadians who have made significant contributions to national culture, based on shortlisted selections provided by a nominating committee of five experts in the comics field.^[4] The Wrights are handed out in three main categories, "Best Book", "The Spotlight Award" (affectionately known as "The Nipper"), and, since 2008, the "Pigskin Peters Award" for non-narrative or experimental works.^[5] In 2020, the organizers added "The Egghead", an award for best kids’ book for readers under twelve.^[6] In addition to the awards, since 2005 the organizers annually induct at least one cartoonist into the Giants of the North: The Canadian Cartoonist Hall Fame.^[7]

The Wright Awards are modeled after traditional book prizes, with the intention of drawing attention to the comics medium from a broad range of demographics inside and outside of its traditional fanbase. The Wrights have garnered acclaim as well as earning the support of a diverse range of participating artists and jurors including Scott Thompson, Don McKellar, Bruce McDonald, Jerry Ciccoritti, Bob Rae, Andrew Coyne, Sara Quin, Greg Morrison, Chester Brown, Lorenz Peter, and Nora Young.^[8]

^ Howard, Dave (February 26, 2010). "Interview with Brad Mackay, Doug Wright Awards Co-Founder". davehoward.ca. Dave Howard. Retrieved May 4, 2020. The idea began in Spring 2004.
^ "The 2005 Doug Wright Awards for Canadian Cartooning". Sequential: Canadian Comix News and Culture. 2005-08-04. Retrieved 2018-10-21.^{[permanent dead link]}
^ "Canadian cartoonists honoured in Toronto". cbc.ca. CBC News. 2005-05-30. Retrieved 2020-05-05. Named after one of Canada's most prolific cartoonists, the awards were established to honour excellence in artistic or alternative comics.
^ Howard, Dave (February 26, 2010). "Interview with Brad Mackay, Doug Wright Awards Co-Founder". davehoward.ca. Dave Howard. Retrieved May 4, 2020. We have a nominating committee, which we're in the process of putting together now. We have usually five people – an odd number – made up of people from across the spectrum. So we have Jeet Heer, Chester Brown, Jerry Ciccoritti, we have Sean Rogers who writes a comics blog for The Walrus, and then Bryan Munn, a retailer and critic from Guelph. So we have those guys on it for this year on the nominating committee.(...)And then from that point we choose our prize jury from a wider cross section of society and we throw them in "The Thunderdome" as we like to call it. We have another dinner with those people and they pick the winners. We tend to have two or three comics-based people on that jury and then the rest are kind of balanced off.
^ Wong, Jessica (2008-08-09). "Rising cartoonists, Lynn Johnston feted at comic book awards". cbc.ca. CBC News. Retrieved 2018-10-21. A new prize designed to recognize non-traditional or more experimental works, entitled the Pigskin Peters Award, went to Vancouver illustrator Julie Morstad for her first comic work Milk Teeth.
^ Munn, B.K. (2019-12-09). "Wright Awards Announces New Kids' Book Category". sequentialpulp.ca. Sequential: Canadian Comix News and Culture. Retrieved 2020-05-05. The award will be called "The Egghead", named for Doug Wright's preferred name for his Nipper character.
^ "Canadian cartoonists honoured in Toronto". cbc.ca. CBC News. 2005-05-30. Retrieved 2020-05-05. Organizers also inducted Wright and four other cartoonists into a hall of fame entitled Giants of the North.
^ Howard, Dave (February 26, 2010). "Interview with Brad Mackay, Doug Wright Awards Co-Founder". davehoward.ca. Dave Howard. Retrieved May 4, 2020. We try and reach out to the wider culture as much as possible in everything we do. This also extends to our ceremony, which we insist is "jeans-free" – at least for the organizers and presenters. So it's a costume-free zone. As a result, we've had some nice things said about us.

[1] Howard, Dave (February 26, 2010). "Interview with Brad Mackay, Doug Wright Awards Co-Founder". davehoward.ca. Dave Howard. Retrieved May 4, 2020. The idea began in Spring 2004.

[2] "The 2005 Doug Wright Awards for Canadian Cartooning". Sequential: Canadian Comix News and Culture. 2005-08-04. Retrieved 2018-10-21.^{[permanent dead link]}

[3] "Canadian cartoonists honoured in Toronto". cbc.ca. CBC News. 2005-05-30. Retrieved 2020-05-05. Named after one of Canada's most prolific cartoonists, the awards were established to honour excellence in artistic or alternative comics.

[4] Howard, Dave (February 26, 2010). "Interview with Brad Mackay, Doug Wright Awards Co-Founder". davehoward.ca. Dave Howard. Retrieved May 4, 2020. We have a nominating committee, which we're in the process of putting together now. We have usually five people – an odd number – made up of people from across the spectrum. So we have Jeet Heer, Chester Brown, Jerry Ciccoritti, we have Sean Rogers who writes a comics blog for The Walrus, and then Bryan Munn, a retailer and critic from Guelph. So we have those guys on it for this year on the nominating committee.(...)And then from that point we choose our prize jury from a wider cross section of society and we throw them in "The Thunderdome" as we like to call it. We have another dinner with those people and they pick the winners. We tend to have two or three comics-based people on that jury and then the rest are kind of balanced off.

[5] Wong, Jessica (2008-08-09). "Rising cartoonists, Lynn Johnston feted at comic book awards". cbc.ca. CBC News. Retrieved 2018-10-21. A new prize designed to recognize non-traditional or more experimental works, entitled the Pigskin Peters Award, went to Vancouver illustrator Julie Morstad for her first comic work Milk Teeth.

[6] Munn, B.K. (2019-12-09). "Wright Awards Announces New Kids' Book Category". sequentialpulp.ca. Sequential: Canadian Comix News and Culture. Retrieved 2020-05-05. The award will be called "The Egghead", named for Doug Wright's preferred name for his Nipper character.

[7] "Canadian cartoonists honoured in Toronto". cbc.ca. CBC News. 2005-05-30. Retrieved 2020-05-05. Organizers also inducted Wright and four other cartoonists into a hall of fame entitled Giants of the North.

[8] Howard, Dave (February 26, 2010). "Interview with Brad Mackay, Doug Wright Awards Co-Founder". davehoward.ca. Dave Howard. Retrieved May 4, 2020. We try and reach out to the wider culture as much as possible in everything we do. This also extends to our ceremony, which we insist is "jeans-free" – at least for the organizers and presenters. So it's a costume-free zone. As a result, we've had some nice things said about us.

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