Rabagliati, DeForge, Collier, Rilly short-listed for 2013 Doug Wright Awards

Renowned Quebec cartoonist Albert Chartier to be inducted into Hall of Fame

Toronto, ON — The Doug Wright Awards for Canadian Cartooning are proud to announce their 2013 finalists. The nominees for the 9^th annual awards include industry stalwarts (Michel Rabagliati, David Collier), past winners (Ethan Rilly, Michael DeForge, Michael Comeau) and an exciting pack of first-time nominees (Nina Bunjevac, George Walker, Eric Kostiuk Williams).

The nominees for the 2013 Doug Wright Award for Best Book are:

• Lose #4 by Michael DeForge (Koyama Press)
• By This Shall You Know Him by Jesse Jacobs (Koyama Press)
• The Song of Roland by Michel Rabagliati (Conundrum Press)
• Pope Hats #3 by Ethan Rilly (AdHouse Books)
• Wax Cross by Tin Can Forest (Koyama Press)

The nominees for the 2013 Doug Wright Spotlight Award (a.k.a. “The Nipper”) which recognizes Canadian cartooning talents worthy of wider recognition are:

• Nina Bunjevac for Heartless (Conundrum Press)
• Brandon Graham for King City (Image Comics)
• Patrick Kyle for Black Mass, Distance Mover, Wowee Zonk #4
• George Walker for The Mysterious Death of Tom Thomson (The Porcupine’s Quill)
• Eric Kostiuk Williams for Hungry Bottom Comics

And the nominees for the 2013 Pigskin Peters Award, which recognizes the best in experimental or avant-garde comics are:

• Hamilton Illustrated by David Collier (Wolsak & Wynn)
• Hellberta #2 and “Sir Softly” from š! #12, by Michael Comeau
• Michael DeForge, Larry Eisenstein, Jesse Jacobs, Mark Laliberte (editor), Marc Ngui, Ethan Rilly, Tin Can Forest and Magda Trzaski for 4PANEL, a special comics features in Carousel Magazine #28 and #29
• Ginette Lapalme for “So, what should we do with ourselves?…” from Wowee Zonk #4 and  “Little Stump” in š! #12

A feature event of the Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF), The Doug Wright Awards are also pleased to announce that the Quebec cartoonist Albert Chartierwill be posthumously inducted into The Giants of the North: The Canadian Cartoonists Hall of Fame during the May 11, 2013 ceremony in Toronto. Chartier (who died in 2004) had an extraordinary career that lasted more than 65 years during which he drew several popular comic strips including Séraphin, Les Canadiens and Onésime, his most well-known work which ran for 59 years (from November 1943 until June 2002).

The Wright Awards are also pleased to release the official poster for the 9^th Annual Awards, drawn by 2012 Best Book Award winner Ethan Rilly.

Art by Ethan Rilly

Founded in 2004, The Doug Wright Awards recognize the best in English-language comics (or translations of French) by Canadian cartoonists. Now in their ninth year, the Awards will be handed out at a ceremony at Toronto’s Marriott Bloor Yorkville Hotel on Saturday May 11 from 7:00 – 9:00 pm.

The Doug Wright Awards will also be holding a fundraising auction of original art this spring by more than a dozen well-known Canadian cartoonists, including Chester Brown, Seth, Michael DeForge, Michael Cho, John Martz, David Collier andDavid Boswell.

The finalists for the 2013 Doug Wright Awards were chosen from a long list of more than 120 works and submissions published during the 2012 calendar year. This year’s nominating committee included Jerry Ciccoritti, Seth, Bryan Munn, Chris Randle and Sean Rogers.

Media inquiries:

Shireen Cuthbert sfcuthbert@gmail.com

For more information about the DWAs: www.wrightawards.ca