The National Cartoonists Society has announced the complete slate of creators, illustrators and sequential artisans up for the 2025 NCS Divisional Awards for Excellence in Cartooning. A vote of NCS members will take place in May, with the winners announced at the 80th Annual Reuben Awards, in Columbus, Ohio on August 7.
The NCS Divisional Awards comprises 13 categories, running the gamut from advertising, animation, comic strips, editorial cartooning, online and offline comics, and more. Each category has three nominees up for the title. All awards cover work published last year (hence the ‘2025’ Reuben Awards)
In the Comic Book category, we have veterans all, especially Stan Sakai (Usagi Yojimbo) and Eric Powell (The Goon, Dr. Werthless) – who have been carving their own paths since the 1980s and 1990s. Jackie Musto is the ‘relative newcomer’ of the three, having ‘only’ been active in comics just short of twenty years. She’s been a longtime practitioner on the webcomic scene, particularly with two long-running series: Kay and P (2009-2021) and Lady Skylark (2012-2018). She has published in print and online, and her current project is The Wolf With No Tail.
Graphic Novel nominees
The NCS Divisional for Graphic Novel highlighted Greg Broadmore, for prehistoric epic One Path (published by Mad Cave), co-written with Andy Lanning and Nick Boshier; Pierre-Alexandre Comtois, for anthropomorphic fantasy Sunder (Mad Cave), with colorist Mark Englert; and Briana Loewinsohn, for semi-autobiographical YA drama Raised by Ghosts (Fantagraphics).
Meanwhile Online Comics – Longform has Steve Conley for ongoing fantasy comedy, The Middle Age; Katie Cook for Nothing Special; and Brad Guigar, for Evil Inc. Both Conley and Guigar have been nominated in the category before, while this appears to be Cook’s first Reuben nomination. Interestingly, of the three nominees, only one – Nothing Special – is a Webtoon (the others are self-hosted projects).
Earlier this month, the NCS announced its 7 candidates for the Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year Reuben Award and some Divisional nominees made the cut – Dave Blazek (Best Newspaper Panel) and Tauhid Bondia (Best Newspaper Strip, Crabgrass). The other five nominees include Will Henry (Wallace the Brave), Dav Pilkey (Dogman), Dana Simpson (Phoebe and Her Unicorn), Mark Tatulli (Heart of the City, Lio), and Raina Telgemeier (Smile, Baby-sitters Club graphic novels, and The Cartoonists Club with Scott McCloud)
The National Cartoonists Society has been in operation since 1946. It is an organisation that brings together cartoonists from all walks and forms of the profession. Based in the US, its membership is international. The Reuben Award (singular) was introduced in 1954, honoring the best cartoonist. The Divisional Awards began to form in 1956 and have steadily expanded to include as many forms of cartooning as conceivable. Divisional Awards for Comic Books began in 1956, Online Comic Strips in 2011 (then split into Long and Short Form categories the following year), and Graphic Novels were introduced in 2012.
OUTSTANDING CARTOONIST OF THE YEAR
- Dave Blazek
- Tauhid Bondia
- Will Henry
- Dav Pilkey
- Dana Simpson
- Mark Tatulli
- Raina Telgemeier
REUBEN DIVISIONAL AWARD NOMINEES
Advertising/Product Illustration
- Pat Higgins
- Liniers
- Pashur
Art for Animated Media
- GogoPedro
- Chari Pere
- Mike Salva
Book Illustration
- Jason Chatfield
- Mike Deas
- Chuck Dillon
Comic Book
- Jackie Musto (The Wolf With No Tail)
- Eric Powell (Dr. Werthless)
- Stan Sakai (Usagi Yojimbo)
Editorial
- Ruben Bolling
- Pedro Molina
- Michael Ramirez
Gag Cartoons
- Joe Dator
- Amy Hwang
- Tom Toro
Graphic Novels
- Greg Broadmore (One Path; Mad Cave)
- Pierre-Alexandre Comtois (Sunder; Mad Cave)
- Briana Loewinsohn (Raised by Ghosts; Fantagraphics)
Magazine and Newspaper Illustration
- Tom Chitty
- Nick Galifianakis
- Johnny Sampson
Newspaper Panel
- Dave Blazek
- Wayno ®
- Bill Whitehead
Newspaper Strip
- Tauhid Bondia (Crabgrass, 2022-Present)
- Liniers (Macanudo, 2002-Present)
- Garry Trudeau (Doonesbury, 1970-Present)
Online Comics – Long Form
Online Comics – Short Form
Variety Entertainment
- Chuck Dillon
- Patrick Merrell
- Joe Wos
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