“When they called me to tell me I had won the award I was alone and so I sat down and thought about the honor and realized I might be older than I thought,” Sandra joked as she accepted the Lifetime acheivement award.

“It’s been a real privilege to work for the NCS and individual cartoonists for the last 10 years now and I hope to for the next 30 or 40,” said Stu upon receiving the award.

NOMINEES FOR THE REUBEN AWARD: Those in the running for the top award (despite common misperception, this award is the ONLY Reuben Award given each year; the others are divisional awards) are Dave Coverly (”Speed Bump”), Al Jaffee (”Mad” magazine’s fold-in) and Dan Piraro (”Bizarro”). Both Coverly and Piraro were Reuben nominees last year, but we predict they’ll be bridesmaids again this year, as the living legend Jaffee wins cartooning’s most prestigious paperweight. SHOULD WIN: Beloved by his peers, Piraro demonstrates daily that the comics page can still be hospitable to brilliant art. Always solid and occasionally transcendent gagwriting burnishes his credentials. (Don’t get us wrong: We are in awe of Jaffee’s body of work, but the Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award exists to honor members of cartooning’s pantheon like Jaffee; however, Sandra Boynton is slated to receive that honor this year.) WILL WIN: While Coverly and Piraro will no doubt hold the hardware in their hands one day, it’s Jaffee turn to put his Reuben Award through the x-ray machine at the airport.
More than any other human, he has caused millions of copies of “Mad” to fall from mint condition.

You can read the rest of his predictions over on google groups.

The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists (AAEC) and The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) are profoundly concerned with the current Orphan Works legislation now being considered by both houses of Congress. Our two groups are comprised of the creators of nearly every major newspaper comic strip and editorial cartoon, as well as many of the nation?s magazine, book, greeting card and comic book illustrators.

The legislation imposes new and onerous burdens on the current holders of copyrights to protect their work, while severely curtailing their ability to collect damages. It devalues their work in the marketplace and will open up a Pandora’s box of potential infringement scenarios, all while placing the burden for policing the marketplace on artists and authors.

We support the narrow goal of making truly orphaned works (that is, ones by deceased authors) available for use by museums and archivists. But proposed legislation is written so broadly that it will almost certainly unleash a torrent of mischief by unscrupulous infringers, with little to fear in the way of legal consequences.

Both the AAEC and NCS hope your committee will reconsider this dramatic erosion of current copyright protections.

The NCS sent an email to its members over the weekend urging them to contact their legislators to oppose this legislation.

Dear National Cartoonists Society Member:

The NCS Board and Stu Rees (NCS legal counsel) are taking the unusual step of urging you to write Congress in opposition to the pending Orphan Works Act of 2008. If enacted, this radical legislation will undermine key elements of your copyright protection. The House and Senate have different versions of the bill, and there are likely to be some modifications, but nothing under serious consideration makes this legislation remotely acceptable.

To take action, simply click this link ( http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/home/ ) and select one of the form letters. We recommend the letter titled “For Visual Artists – Any Image Can Be Infringed”. All you’ll need to do is add your contact information at the bottom of the page and press “Send Message”. It’s as easy as it is important.

For those of you who want to take an even more active role, contact Lynn Reznick Parisi ( lynn[at]offthemarkcartoons[dot]com ) for easy and effective ideas.

If you want to discuss the legislation, feel free to email or call Stu ( 619-297-4001, stu@stus.com ).

/s/ Jeff Keane, NCS President

On behalf of the National Cartoonists Society

/s/ Stu Rees, Attorney for the NCS

Ed. Note: I’ve altered Lynn’s email above to deter spam. Replace ‘[at]‘ and ‘[dot]‘ with @ and . to send email.

Tom Richmond, who attended the college’s Annual Partners in Scholarship Luncheon where he met the two, writes:

These young adults are very talented and were truly grateful for the scholarship awards the NCSF provided. In some cases it allowed a continuation of their education that otherwise would not have been financially possible. It was great to see the direct results of the scholarship money first hand, and I had a pleasant lunch chatting with Evan and Christina about last year of school and their future plans.

The NCSF’s scholarship program has changed a little (it’s no longer tied to a single school) but is fulfilling the same function this year and in future years with the Jay Kennedy Scholarship as well as some other awards that are available. The NCSF needs both applicants and, more importantly, continued donations to help more students like Evan and Christina fulfill their dreams of completing college and embarking on a career in cartooning. Visit the NCSF scholarship page for the address to send donations, and look for that to be updated soon with info on next year’s application requirements and deadline.

They are:

Advertising Illustration

• Jack Pittman
• Tom Richmond
• Tom Stiglich

Newspaper Panel

• Chad Carpenter — Tundra
• Glenn & Gary McCoy — The Flying McCoys
• Kieran Meehan — Meehan

Regarding the remaining categories, this is the second year that Kieran Meehan has been nominated for best newspaper panel for his feature Meehan. Tom Richmond was also nominated last year for advertising illustration.

When Rees started his legal career in the latter 1990s, feature sales to newspapers “were rising — though at a slowish rate,” he recalled. “There was still the semblance of how the business used to be — and optimism that the business would remain steady. The first contracts I negotiated with syndicates were pretty good.”

But it has become “a different world” since 9/11, continued Rees. Newspapers — and the U.S. economy in general — have been going through hard times, and “the syndicates are now tougher in their contract negotiations,” the attorney noted.

Also, Rees said syndicates in 2008 are more interested in signing people (such as editorial cartoonists starting a comic) who already have a track record in newspaper cartooning or another artistic field. “The days are virtually over for when a syndicate would sign a cartoonist who had been working in a coffee shop,” commented the attorney. “Of course, there are exceptions.”

Rees estimated that at least 80% of new launches are now by creators with some professional art experience, up from perhaps 50% a decade or two ago.

“Syndicates are looking for some sort of guarantee,” he explained. “They don’t feel they have the leeway to take some of the risks they used to.”