2015 NCS Cartoonist of the Year Nominees!

Back in early March, National Cartoonists Society membership voting was tabulated for nominees for the 2015 Reuben Award for “Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year”. Ballots went out to all voting NCS members but unfortunately there was no post on this site to announce the nominees to the world. With apologies from president Bill Morrison, the editors correct that oversight now and congratulate the five nominees on achieving this coveted honor. They are:

• Lynda Barry

• Stephan Pastis

• Hilary Price

• Michael Ramirez

• Mark Tatulli

LYNDA BARRY is a cartoonist and writer. She’s authored 21 books and received numerous awards and honors including an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from University of the Arts, Philadelphia, two William Eisner Awards, The American Library Association’s Alex Award, the Washington State Governor’s Award, the Wisconsin Library Associations RR Donnelly Award and the Wisconsin Visual Art Lifetime Achievement Award. Her book, “One! Hundred! Demons!” was required reading for all incoming freshmen at Stanford University in 2008. She’s currently Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Creativity and Director of The Image Lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison were she teaches writing and picture-making.

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 eight 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 won the NCS Best Newspaper Panel Division four times (2007, 2009, 2012 and 2014). 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 third nomination for the Reuben award. You can visit Rhymes With Orange online here.

MICHAEL RAMIREZ is a two-time winner of the prestigious Pulitzer Prize in 1994 and 2008 and a three-time Sigma Delta Chi, Society of Professional Journalism Award winner. He is a Senior Editor and the editorial cartoonist for Investor’s Business Daily. Ramirez is a Lincoln Fellow, and an honorary member of Pi Sigma Alpha National Political Science Honor Society. He has won almost every major journalism award in America including the 2005 National Journalism Award, the 2008 Fischetti Award, the H. L. Mencken Award and is a five-time National Cartoonists Society editorial cartoon division winner. Michael is the recipient of the prestigious UCI Medal from the University of California, Irvine and is the author of two books, “Everyone Has the Right to My Opinion” and “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Obamacare”. His work is seen world-wide in over four hundred newspapers and magazines through Creators Syndicate and has been featured on CNN, Fox News, and Fox Business and seen in USA Today, the Washington Post, the New York Times, the New York Post, Time Magazine, National Review and US News and World Report.

MARK TATULLI is an internationally syndicated cartoonist, best known for his popular comic strips Heart of the City and Lio, which appear in 400 newspapers all over the world. He currently has written three books in a children’s illustrated novel series titled Desmond Pucket, which has been optioned for TV by Radical Sheep. He also has two planned children’s picture books coming from Roaring Book Press, an imprint of McMillian Publishing. The first, Daydreaming, will hit bookstores in September 2016. Lio has been nominated three times for the National Cartoonists Society’s Best Comic Strip, winning in 2009. Mark was also nominated by the NCS for cartoonist of the year in 2014. Lio was nominated for Germany’s Max and Moritz Award in 2010.