From next year onwards, the Dutch government will award a Dutch cartoonist with the Marten Toonder Prize for an exceptional contribution to Dutch comic culture. The price is an initiative of the Fonds voor Beeldende Kunsten, Vormgeving en Bouwkunst (BKVB, Fund for the Visual Arts, Design and Architecture), and Gert Jan Pos, who has been appointed on May 1st in order to promote the Dutch comic.
The Prize will have a value of € 25, 000 as in the past, cartoonists have been known to refuse awards if no money was involved. It will exist side by side with the Stripschap Prize, which has been awarded yearly since 1974, as the crown on a lifetime achievement.
The Prize was named after Marten Toonder, one of the founding fathers of the Dutch comics. His most famous characters are Heer Bommel and Tom Poes, but he’s also well-known for his contributions to the Dutch language, with many new expressions and neologisms. In his Marten Toonder Studios, later luminaries like Dick Matena, Piet Wijn and Hans G. Kresse were able to perfect their art on comics and animated shorts. In 2012, the foundation that manages Toonder’s legacy plans to open a museum dedicated to his work.
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