Cartoon Art Trust Award Winners Announced
The creators of the Daily Telegraph's Alex and top children's author Raymond Briggs, creator of The Snowman and Fungus the Bogeyman were among the winners of the 14th Cartoon Art Trust Awards presented in London yesterday, at a dinner which coincided with the opening of Giles - One of the Family exhibition at The Cartoon Museum.
Anita O'Brien, Curator of The Cartoon Museum, presented The Pont Prize for drawing the British Character to Charles Peattie and Russell Taylor of the Daily Telegraph for Alex. Recently 'Alex Masterly' and Clive's adventures have ranged from Narnia to that pest of modern City life - the Blackberry. The strip has run since 1987 - an outstanding achievement. Alex was 25 then (he is now presumably 46!).
Russell met Charles at a Christmas party in 1986. who told him he had a commission for a strip for the financial pages of the incipient London Daily News. The result was Alex.
Guardian cartoonist Steve Bell presented The Lifetime Achievement Award to Raymond Briggs, who is widely admired as a cartoonist, illustrator and teacher.
The creator of the acclaimed books The Snowman, Father Christmas and When the Wind Blows, he has been responsible for some of the earliest British 'graphic novels', long before the term or the form was generally known. He has been praised by Posy Simmonds for producing work that is 'not only passionate but also tender and funny.'
Previous winners of the award have included, Ronald Searle, Gerald Scarfe, Fluck and Law and 'Trog'.
Other winners included Sunday Times cartoonist Grizelda, Times caricaturist Stephen Collins, Nicola Jennings of The Guardian, whose caricatures include many celebrities such as Ozzy Osbourne and others, and Financial Times cartoonist Jeremy 'Banx' Banks, who has been the paper's daily cartoonist since 1989.
Young Cartoonist of the Year Awards were presented in the Under 18 award to Emilia Franklin and the Under 30 award to James Hood, who was British Cartoonists' Association 'Young Cartoonist of the Year' in 2007.
You can read Alex online at: www.alexcartoon.com
