Each year, during the NCS Annual Reuben Awards Weekend, the Society honors the year’s outstanding achievements in all walks of the profession. The recipient of our profession’s highest honor, the Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year is chosen by a secret ballot of the members.
The Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award is awarded by unanimous vote of the NCS Board of Directors, as is the Silver T-Square, an award that recognizes outstanding service to the Society and the profession.
Reuben winners Ann Telnaes, Sergio Aragones, Patrick McDonnell and Ray Billingsley
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. 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 eight winners who had received the “Barney,” as the Billy DeBeck Award was dubbed, subsequently received Reuben statuettes and are termed Reuben winners in the Society’s annals. As with all the NCS awards, the winner need not be a member of the Society.
Awarded by unanimous vote of the NCS Board of Directors, The Gold Key honors the recipient as a member of the National Cartoonists Society Hall of Fame.
The Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award is awarded by unanimous vote of the NCS Board of Directors. It is given for a lifetime of outstanding and accomplished work to a cartoonist who has not previously won a Reuben (the one exception was the posthumous award to Charles M. Schulz, who was awarded a unique Golden Caniff for his outstanding contribution to the artform).
Caniff Award recipients Morrie Turner (with Michael Ramirez), R.O. Blechman, Sandra Boynton and Brad Anderson.
1994 Harry Devlin
1994 Will Eisner
1995 Al Hirschfeld
1997 Dale Messick
1998 Bill Gallo
1999 Charles Schulz
2002 Jerry Robinson
2003 Morrie Turner
2004 Jules Feiffer
2005 Gahan Wilson
2006 Ralph Steadman
2007 Sandra Boynton
2008 Frank Frazetta
2009 Joe Kubert
2009 George Booth
2010 R. O. Blechman
2012 Brad Anderson
2012 Russ Heath
2015 Paul Coker, Jr.
2017 Lynda Barry
2019 Floyd Norman
The Gold T-Square is awarded for 50 years as professional cartoonist. So far, three have been presented: to Rube Goldberg in 1955, Mort Walker in 1999 and to Arnold Roth in 2018.
The Silver T-Square is awarded, by unanimous vote of the NCS Board, to persons who have demonstrated outstanding dedication or service to the Society or the profession.
Professor emerita Lucy Shelton Caswell receives the Silver T-Square in 2011. Luke and Joe McGarry, youngest-ever recipients of the T-Square at 18 years old. David Low receives the first T-Square in 1948. Lee Salem makes off with his award, 2013.
1948 David Low
1949 Carl Ed
1949 Cliff Sterrett
1949 H.C. "Bud" Fisher
1949 Frank King
1949 George McManus
1950 John Snyder
1950 Harry S. Truman
1950 Martin Branner
1950 James Berryman
1951 Reg Manning
1953 Ed Kuekes
1954 George M. Humphrey
1954 Dwight D. Eisenhower
1954 Herbert Block
1955 (Gold) Rube Goldberg
1956 Gluyas Williams
1956 James Thurber
1956 Al Posen
1956 Al Pierotti
1957 Harry Hershfield
1957 Milton Caniff
1957 Tom Little
1957 Bob Dunn
1958 Russell Patterson
1959 Carl Rose
1959 Bill Mauldin
1960 McGowan Miller
1960 (posthumous) Ben Roth
1961 Mort Walker
1961 Joe Musial
1962 Edmund Valtman
1963 Steve Douglas
1964 Vernon Greene
1964 Tom Gill
1967 Al Smith
1969 Irwin Hasen
1969 Otto Soglow
1969 Dick Ericson
1970 George Wunder
1970 Alfred Andriola
1971 Frank Fogarty
1971 Dick Hodgins, Sr.
1972 Walt Kelly
1972 John Norment
1972 David Pascal
1973 Bill Crawford
1973 John Fischetti
1973 Jack Tippit
1974 “Tack” Knight
1974 Isadore Klein
1975 Jack Rosen
1975 Hal Foster
1976 Al Kilgore
1977 Paul Szep
1977 Bill Kresse
1977 Lyman Young
1978 Bill Gallo
1978 Jim Ruth
1978 Hank Ketcham
1979 Dick Hodgins Jr.
1979 Sylvan Byck
1979 Ed Mitchell
1979 Jim Ivey
1980 Buck Peters
1981 John C. Murphy
1982 George Wolfe
1984 Sam Norkin
1986 Lee Falk
1992 Creig Flessel
1992 Herb Jacoby
1993 George Breisacher
1995 Arnold Roth
1995 Caroline Roth
1995 (Gold) Mort Walker
1996 David Folkman
1996 Bill Janocha
1997 Tim Rosenthal
1998 Joe Duffy
2000 Mell Lazarus
2001 Ted Goff
2001 Frank Pauer
2002 Bil Keane
2002 Joseph D'Angelo
2003 Jud Hurd
2004 John McMeel
2006 Dick Locher
2007 Joe McGarry
2007 Luke McGarry
2008 Stu Rees
2009 (posthumous) James Kemsley
2009 Jeff Bacon
2011 Lucy Caswell
2012 Steve McGarry
2013 Lee Salem
2016 Bruce Higdon
2018 Rick Stromoski
2018 Brendan Burford
2018 (Gold) Arnold Roth
2019 John Glynn
2019 (Gold) Garry Trudeau
1983 Beverly Hills Hotel, Los Angeles CA
1984 The Plaza, New York NY
1985 The Plaza, New York NY
1986 JW Marriott, Washington DC
1987 The Plaza, New York NY
1988 Westin St. Francis, San Francisco CA
1989 Fairmont Royal York, Toronto, Canada
1990 Sunward II, The Bahamas
1991 Sunward II, The Bahamas
1992 Renaissance Mayflower, Washington DC
1993 Gainey Ranch, Scotsdale AZ
1994 Sheraton Grande Torrey Pines, La Jolla CA
1995 Boca Raton Resort & Club, Boca Raton FL
1996 Waldorf Astoria, New York NY
1997 Grove Park Inn Resort, Asheville NC
1998 Ritz Carlton Huntington Hotel, Pasadena CA
1999 Hyatt Regency Alamo Plaza, San Antonio TX
2000 Marriott World Trade Center, New York NY
2001 Boca Raton Resort & Club, Boca Raton FL
2002 Fiesta Americana Grand Coral Beach, Cancun
2003 The Palace, San Francisco CA
2004 Fairmont at the Plaza, Kansas City MO
2005 Scottsdale Princess, Scottsdale AZ
2006 Renaissance Chicago, Chicago IL
2007 Ritz Carlton Grande Lakes, Orlando FL
2008 Ritz Carlton, New Orleans LA
2009 Renaissance Hollywood, Los Angeles CA
2010 Hyatt Regency, Jersey City NJ
2011 Fairmont Copley Plaza, Boston MA
2012 Green Valley Ranch Resort, Las Vegas, NV
2013 Omni William Penn, Pittsburgh PA
2014 Omni San Diego, San Diego CA
2015 Omni Shoreham, Washington, DC
2016 The Peabody, Memphis TN
2017 Hilton Downton, Portland OR
2018 Marriott Downtown, Phildelphia PA
2019 Hyatt Regency Resort, Huntington Beach CA
2020 Online at NCSFest.com
2021 Online at NCSFest.com
2022 Kansas City Marriott Downtown, Kansas City MO
2023 Hyatt Regency, Jersey City NJ
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