The National Cartoonists Society held their 77th Annual Reuben Awards Dinner where they announced that Bill Griffith had won the “Reuben” Award, the NCS’s highest honor, presented to the “Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year.” Jim Davis presented the award to Griffith at the banquet and awards show which was held at The Hyatt Regency in Jersey City on September 7, 2023.
Griffith is the creator of Zippy the Pinhead a King Features syndicated comic strip that got its start as an underground comic published by Print Mint. He has recently branched out into graphic novels including this year’s critically acclaimed “Three Rocks: The Story of Ernie Bushmiller: The Man Who Created Nancy” which tells the history of comics as told through the life story of Ernie Bushmiller and his iconic comic strip Nancy.
The NCS also announced winners for the divisional awards with winners in twelve cartooning categories. The winners(highlighted in bold) were as follows:
ONLINE COMICS (LONG FORM)
- Phil Foglio, Girl Genius
- Brad Guigar, Evil, Inc
- Dave Kellet, Drive
ONLINE COMICS (SHORT FORM)
- Sarah Anderson, Sarah’s Scribbles
- Jesse Atwell, Tex
- Rich Powell, Wide Open
NEWSPAPER COMIC STRIPS
- Darrin Bell, Candorville
- Will Henry, Wallace the Brave
- Dana Simpson, Phoebe and Her Unicorn
EDITORIAL CARTOONS
- Ruben Bolling, Tom the Dancing Bug”
- Matt Davies
- Clay Bennett
MAGAZINE/NEWSPAPER ILLUSTRATION
- Jim McGreal
- Nick Galifianakis, Nick and Zuzu
- Tom Chitty
NEWSPAPER PANELS
- Dave Blazek, Loose Parts
- John Reiner
- Wayno Honath, WaynoVision
GAG CARTOONS
- Tyson Cole
- Amy Hwang
- Tom Toro
- Christopher Weyant
ADVERTISING/PRODUCT ILLUSTRATION
- Sam Grinberg
- Bill Morrison
- Dave Whamond
COMIC BOOKS
- Brett Bean, Zoo Patrol Squad series (Penguin Workshop), I Hate Fairyland (Image) with Skottie Young
- Ben Bender, Beorn – The Littlest Viking Saga (Red 5 Comics)
- Robert Goodin, The Kurdles (Fantagraphics and self-published)
GRAPHIC NOVELS
- Colleen Doran, adaptations of Neil Gaiman stories Snow, Glass, Apples, Norse Mythology, and Chivalry (Dark Horse)
- Christian Meesey, Time Shopper with Tony Fleecs (self published)
- Alex Ross, Fantastic Four: Full Circle (Abrams ComicArts)
BOOK ILLUSTRATION
- Kayla Harren
- Lincoln Peirce
- Ed Steckley
VARIETY ENTERTAINMENT
- Chuck Dillon
- Scott Nickel, Eek!
- Bob Weber Jr. and Scott Underwood, Oh, Brother!