SATURDAY JUNE 18: RICHARD HOSTS THE Doug Wright Awards!
Richard is hosting The Doug Wright Awards on Saturday, June 18, at Harold Town Park, 725 Church Street, in Toronto, at 7 p.m. ET—hosted by Richard Crouse! Bring a blanket (a limited number of chairs will be available). You can also watch live on their YouTube channel.
The Doug Wright Awards is pleased to announce the nominees for its 18th annual honours, selected from works published by Canadian creators during the 2021 calendar year.
The Doug Wright Award for best book
The Shiatsung Project
Brigitte Archambault
Conundrum Press
Cyclopedia Exotica
Aminder Dhaliwal
Drawn & Quarterly
The Rock From the Sky
Jon Klassen
Candlewick Press
Stone Fruit
Lee Lai
Fantagraphics
Fictional Father
Joe Ollmann
Drawn & Quarterly
The Nipper: The Doug Wright Award for emerging talent
Sofia Alarcon
Endsickness No. 1
Self-published
Sami Alwani
The Pleasure of the Text
Conundrum Press
Brigitte Archambault
The Shiatsung Project
Conundrum Press
Alexander Laird
Sleemor Gank: Burg Land No. 1
Self-published
Kyle Simmers and Ryan Danny Owen
Pass Me By: Gone Fishin’ and Pass Me By: Electric Vice
Renegade Arts Entertainment
The Pigskin Peters: The Doug Wright Award for best small- or micro-press book
Endsickness No. 1
Sofia Alarcon
Self-published
Fruit/Soil
Kim Edgar
Moniker Press
The Northern Gaze
Akeeshoo Chislett, Chris Caldwell, Cole Pauls, Andrew Sharp, Juliann Fraser, Esther Bordet, Alison McCreesh, Keith Verbonac, Princess J; edited by Kim Edgar
Hecate Press
Sleemor Gank: Burg Land No. 1
Alexander Laird
Self-published
Dwellings No. 2
Jay Stephens
Black Eye Books
The Egghead: The Doug Wright Award for best kids’ book
Simon and Chester: Super Sleepover!
Cale Atkinson
Tundra Books
Otter Lagoon
Mike Deas and Nancy Deas
Orca Book Publishers
Living with Viola
Rosena Fung
Annick Press
Shirley and Jamila’s Big Fall
Gillian Goerz
Dial Books for Young Readers
Over the Shop
JonArno Lawson and Qin Leng
Candlewick Press
Etty Darwin and the Four Pebble Problem
Lauren Soloy
Tundra Books
This year, 153 entries by Canadian authors and artists were submitted to the Doug Wright Awards in four categories. Nominees and winners were chosen by a panel of three judges per category. Books from approximately 40 publishers were submitted, along with more than three dozen self-published works.
Creators with multiple nominations include Sofia Alarcon, Brigitte Archambault, and Alexander Laird.
Publishers of multiple nominees include Candlewick Press, Conundrum Press, Drawn & Quarterly, and Tundra Books.
Each winner will receive a small cash prize, and the winner of The Nipper will be awarded a week-long retreat at the Valleyview Artist Retreat, in Caledon, Ontario. Congratulations to all of this year’s nominees!
Giants of the North: The Canadian Cartoonist Hall of Fame
This year’s Giants of the North inductee is Margaret Bloy Graham (1921–2015), a children’s book creator, best known for her work on Harry the Dirty Dog.
The Ceremony
The Doug Wright Awards returns live and in-person for 2022, with host Richard Crouse, in the open air of Harold Town Park, 725 Church Street (on the north side of Church, directly behind the Toronto Reference Library), on Saturday, June 18th, at 7 p.m. ET. The event will also be livestreamed on YouTube. The Doug Wright Awards is a featured event of the Toronto Comic Arts Festival.
Judges
Thanks to this year’s judges: Sami Alwani, David Craig, Jamie Coville, Inderjit Deogun, Mike Donachie, Ebony Flowers, Napatsi Folger, Jamie Michaels, Peter Phillips, Veronica Post, Shea Proulx, and Sherwin Tija.
Sponsors
Thanks, as well, to this year’s sponsors: Toronto Life, Koyama Provides, Broken Pencil, Valleyview Artist Retreat, Strange Adventures, Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Taddle Creek, the Beguiling, and the Toronto Comic Arts Festival.
About the Doug Wright Awards
The Doug Wright Awards were founded in 2005 to celebrate excellence in the field of Canadian comics. The awards are named for Doug Wright (1917–1983), the creator of the long-running strip Doug Wright’s Family (a.k.a. Nipper), one of the most widely read and loved Canadian comics of the twentieth century.
