2014 NCS Cartoonist of the Year Nominees!

National Cartoonist Society membership nomination voting has been tabulated, and the nominees for the 2014 Reuben Award for “Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year” are:

• Roz Chast
  

• Stephan Pastis

• Hilary Price

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Roz Chast is probably best known for her cartoons in The New Yorker, where she is a staff cartoonist. She attended Rhode Island School of Design, majoring in Painting because it “seemed more artistic”. After graduating, she reverted to type and began drawing cartoons. Her cartoons have been published in many other magazines besides The New Yorker, including Scientific American, the Harvard Business Review, Redbook, and Mother Jones. Her most recent book is a comprehensive compilation of her favorite cartoons called Theories of Everything: Selected, Collected, and Health-Inspected Cartoons of Roz Chast, 1978-2006. She also illustrated The Alphabet from A to Y, with Bonus Letter, Z, the best-selling children’s book by Steve Martin. Her graphic novel “Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?”  was picked by The New York Times Book Review as one of the ten best books of 2014. This is Roz’s first nomination for the Reuben Award. You can visit Roz’s website here.

Stephan Pastis is the creator of the daily comic strip Pearls Before Swine, syndicated by Universal Uclick. Stephan practiced law in the San Fransisco Bay area before following his love of cartooning and eventually seeing syndication with Pearls, which was launched in newspapers beginning December 31, 2001. The National Cartoonists Society awarded Pearls Before Swine the Best Newspaper Comic Strip in 2003 and in 2006. Stephan is also the author of the children’s book series Timmy Failure. Stephan lives in northern California with his wife Staci and their two children. This is his seventh nomination for the Reuben award. Visit Stephan’s blog and the Pearls Before Swine website.

Hilary Price is the creator of Rhymes With Orange, a daily newspaper comic strip syndicated by King Features Syndicate. Created in 1995, Rhymes With Orange has thrice won the NCS Best Newspaper Panel Division (2007, 2009 and 2012). Her work has also appeared in Parade Magazine, The Funny Times, People and Glamour. When she began drawing Rhymes With Orange, she was the youngest woman to ever have a syndicated strip. Hilary draws the strip in an old toothbrush factory that has since been converted to studio space for artists. She lives in western Massachusetts. This is Hilary’s second nomination for the Reuben award. You can visit Rhymes With Orange online here.

The official ballots have been issued to all full members of the National Cartoonists Society for voting to determine the winner. Congratulations to the nominees!

The Reuben Award for The Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year is chosen by a secret ballot of the members of the National Cartoonists Society. The Reuben Award is the highest honor that the profession bestows. As with all the NCS awards, the winner need not be a member of the Society. The award was previously called the Billy DeBeck Memorial Award, and the recipient received an engraved silver cigarette box. The Reuben was introduced in 1954 and is named after longtime Honorary President Rube Goldberg. The statue is based on one of Goldberg’s irreverent pieces of sculpture.

The winner of the 2014 “Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year” will be announced on May 23rd at the annual NCS Reuben Awards dinner in Washington D.C.