Young Cartoonists of the Year Awards

Young Cartoonists Awards at the Cartoon Museum

Thursday March 26th was awards night for the Young Cartoonists of the Year Awards, the annual competition hosted by the Cartoon Museum and the British Cartoonists' Association. 

This year the YCOTY Awards were presented by cartoonist and BCA Chair Nicola Jennings.  The awards were sponsored by Léonie Wykes-Mahood in memory of her late husband, the cartoonist Ken Mahood. 

Young Cartoonists of the Year Awards

Hosted by the Cartoon Museum in London, the annual Young Cartoonists of the Year competition seeks to reward rising cartoon talent.

Judges
Judges this year included Nick Newman (Private Eye), Nicola Jennings (The Guardian), Posy Simmonds (The Guardian), James Mellor (Private Eye) Woodrow Phoenix, Dave Brown (The Independent) and Alex Williams (The Times).

The Winners

This year the winners were:

Under 18 

• Winner - Artie Hicks (age 11)
• Runner Up - Rafe Carver (age 11)

Under 30 

• Winner - Tom Morris (age 29)
• Runner Up - William Fothergill (age 25)

Winning Cartoon by Tom Morris (age 29)

Woodcock Prize (most surreal cartoon)

• Reggie Shears (age 7)

Cartoons and Comics at Escape Studios
Here at Escape Studios we encourage all our students to enter competitions such as this one.  Animation and cartoons are (of course) not quite the same thing, but the ability to sketch up a gag and make it funny is a very useful skill for an animator.  

And, of course, for a storyboard artist. 

The Escape Studios Animation Blog offers a personal view on the art of animation and visual effects. To apply for one of our courses, follow this link.