The nominees have been announced for the 18th annual Doug Wright Awards, which honor “the best work and most promising talent in Canadian comics.”
Candlewick Press, Conundrum Press, Drawn & Quarterly and Tundra Books all received multiple nominations for books they published, while creators Sofia Alarcon, Brigitte Archambault and Alexander Laird also received multiple nods.
This year the awards will be given out live and in-person for the first time since before the pandemic, on June 18 at 7 p.m. Eastern during the Toronto Comic Arts Festival. The event will also be livestreamed on YouTube.
The nominees are:
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 Jamilla’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 Soley
Tundra Books
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.