With the good news about Mark Tatulli and Richard Thompson being nominated in the "Best Strip" category by the National Cartoonists Society, I thought I'd give you a rundown of whom at UPS has won "the big one" namely "The Reuben" award for best cartoonist of the year. Legend has it that the NCS Board enacted the "you can only win the Reuben once" article into their constitution due to Watterson and Larson's dominance in the late 80s/early 90s.
As you might notice as you peruse the list, some overqualified people don't win for years after their launches. Cases in point, 1994 for Garry Trudeau, 1992 for Cathy Guisewhite, 2006 for Foxtrot? That's just silly.
It's my read, that the NCS hasn't historically given awards to newer features, which makes Mark's and Richard's (and even Stephan's) nomination in the strip category a possible hopeful sign that things might be changing.
Meanwhile, our champions:
Pat Oliphant (1968)*
Pat Oliphant (1972)*
Lynn Johnston (1985)
Bill Watterson (1986)
Bill Watterson (1988)
Jim Davis (1989)*
Gary Larson (1990)
Cathy Guisewhite (1992)
Garry Trudeau (1994)
Gary Larson (1995)
Bill Amend (2006)
* Not on the Universal roster at the time of the award.
-JG