The National Cartoonist Society has announced the line-up of speakers for the upcoming Reuben Awards weekend. Also announced is a return of the NCS A.C.E. Award (Amateur Cartoonist Extraordinaire) given to a notable individual who aspired to be a cartoonist but became famous by other means. This year’s A.C.E. recipient is ?Weird Al? Yankovic. NCS President Tom Richmond notes past recipients include: Carol Burnett, Jonathan Winters, Jackie Gleason, Orson Bean, Ginger Rogers, Al Roker, Denis Leary and Morely Safer.
Here’s the run-down on the speakers as posted on the NCS website:
Eddie Pittman– Animator, illustrator, creator of the online graphic novel Red?s Planet
Chris Houghton– Animator, comic artist, illustrator, 2009 winner of the NCSF Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship
Greg Evans– 2003 Reuben Award winning creator of the syndicated comic strip Luann.
Suzy Spafford– Creator of Suzy?s Zoo, greeting card/product/licensing entrepenuer
Sandra Bell-Lundy– Creator of the syndicated comic strip Between Friends, which is celebrating 20 years in syndication.
Bunny Hoest Carpenter and John Reiner– Recipients of the 2014 NCS Gold Key Award (The NCS Hall of Fame), creative team on the syndicated panel cartoon The Lockhorns
Russ Heath– Comics legend and recipient of the 2014 NCS Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award
It also mentions that Tom Gammill will return as the host of the Reuben Awards show.
The Reuben Awards will be held in San Diego, CA this year over Memorial Day weekend (May 23rd-25th).