New Observer/Cape/Comics graphic short fiction competition announced

Joe — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 09:02:45 +0000

Paul Gravett kindly drops us a line to let us know that this year’s Observer/Jonathan Cape/Comica competition for short graphical fiction was announced in Sunday’s Observer. This is rapidly becoming a major event in the UK comics calendar, offering not just a chance for comics creators to try their luck but to also perhaps catch the eye of a major publisher (last year’s winner, Julian Hanshaw with the intriguing Sand Dunes and Sonic Booms, now has a book deal with Cape). The top prize is a cool £1, 000 and publication of the winning story in the Observer, while this year’s judges consist of Joe Sacco, Simone Lia, The Observer’s Rachel Cooke, Jonathan Cape’s Dan Franklin, Random House’s Suzanne Dean and Paul Gravett; the deadline is September 25th, while the winning entry will be published in the Observer Magazine (meaning some good exposure not just for the winner but for comics to a wider, generally non-comics readership, which has to be good for the medium) on November 1st and the award will be given during Comica in November. You can still read Sand Dunes on the Guardian website.

(a frame from last year’s Observer winner, Sand Dunes and Sonic Booms by and (c) Julian Hanshaw)

The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log » Rachel Cooke

New Observer/Cape/Comics graphic short fiction competition announced