Nominees announced for the 20th annual Doug Wright Awards

The nominees have been announced for the 20th annual Doug Wright Awards, which honor “the best work and most promising talent in Canadian comics.”

First Second, Conundrum Press, and Drawn & Quarterly all received multiple nominations for books they published

In addition to this year’s nominees, the Doug Wright committee also announced this year’s inductees for the Giants of the North: The Canadian Cartooning Hall of Fame: Deni Loubert, founder of Renegade Press and co-founder of Aardvark-Vanaheim, and Maurice Vellekoop, the cartoonist and fashion designer whose comics and illustrations have appeared in Time, GQ, Cosmopolitan, The New Yorker, Madamoiselle and many other magazines, as well as in the graphic novels The World of Gloria Badcock, A Nut at the Opera and I’m So Glad We Had This Time Together.

Nominees were selected from entries of books published in the 2023 calendar year. The short list and winners were chosen by a panel of three judges for each category. Each winner will receive a small cash prize, and the winner of The Nipper will be awarded a week-long stay at the Valleyview Artist Retreat in Caledon, Ontario.

And here are this year’s nominees …

The Doug Wright Award for best book

Val-d’Or Neon
Olivier Ballou 
(Self-published)

A Guest in the House
Emily Carroll
(First Second)

Harvey Knight’s Odyssey
Nick Maandag
(Drawn & Quarterly)

Naked: The Confessions of a Normal Woman
Éloïse Marseille
(Pow Pow Press)

Roaming
Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki
(Drawn & Quarterly)

JAJ
Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas
(Douglas & McIntyre)

The Nipper: The Doug Wright Award for emerging talent

James Collier
The Lonesome Shepherd
(Wig Shop)

Vincy Lim
When I was a kid I was taught how to die. Now that I’m an adult I’m learning how to live. (I love you.) and When She Set Fire to My Friends’ Houses
(Self-published)

Syd Madia
Syd Madia’s Dracula
(Self-published)

Christopher Twin
Bad Medicine
(Emanata/Conundrum)

Kyle Vingoe-Cram
Kettle Harbour
(Conundrum)

The Pigskin Peters: The Doug Wright Award for best small- or micro-press book

Endsickness No. 2
Sofia Alarcon
(Self-published)

The Lonesome Shepherd
James Collier
(Wig Shop)

Old Caves
Tyler Landry
(Uncivilized)

Power 9: Part One
John Little and David Little
(Self-published)

Index
Sven, Rachel Evangeline Chiong, and Joyce Kim
(Self-published)

The Egghead: The Doug Wright Award for best kids’ book

ThunderBoom
Jack Briglio and Claudia Dávila
(Kids Can Press)

Pluto Rocket: New in Town
Paul Gilligan
(Tundra Books)

Hockey Girl Loves Drama Boy
Faith Erin Hicks
(First Second)

Otis & Peanut
Naseem Hrab and Kelly Collier
(Owlkids Books)

Bad Medicine
Christopher Twin
(Emanata/Conundrum)

The 2024 Doug Wright Awards winners will be announced in a livestream on May 11.