The 2025 Doug Wright Awards Nominations are in, celebr entherher year of excellence in Canadian Comics Across Four Categories. The Winners of the 21st Edition Will Be declared on Saturday, June 7, 2025, At Toronto’s Arts & Letters Club.
The Doug Wright Awards Have Occurred Annually During the Toronto Comic Arts Festival Weekend. Begun in 2005, It was named After thisemed Canadian Newspaper Cartoonist Doug Wrightwho is best known for a wordless gag strip street Doug Wright’s Family and The Nipper, WHICH WAS PUBLISHED IN The Montreal Standard/The Weekend and The Canadian Between 1949 and 1980.
The poster for This Year’s Award Was Designed by Maurice Vellekoop.
Books nominated for the 2025 Awards were all published in the 2024 calendar year, in the English Language. The Judging Process Buys A Three-Member Jury For Each Category, which Mixes Practitioners, Industry Experts, and a Third Person Who May not be Directly Involved in the Industry But has a Deep Understanding of the Comics Medum.
While The Panel For Each Category Is Not Known, The Eleven Judges Involved This Year Include Culture Journalist Nathalie Atkinson; Serbian-Canadian Illustrator and Cartoonist Ivana Philipovich; Veteran Cartoonist, Educator and Comic Store Retailer Gareth Gaudin; Author Illustrator, Journalist Andrew Hawthorn; Film Producer, Director and Former Cartoonist Chris Hutsul; Award-Winning Queer Comic Artist and Children’s Book Illustrator Kate Phillips; Multidisciplinary Visual Artist Pamela Marie Pierce; They veteran Visual Storyteller Ken Steacy; Award-Winning Artist and Graphic Novelist Diana also; Arts Journalist and Film Program Eric Veillette; Multidisciplinary Experimental Artist Stanley Wany; and Chinese-Canadian Comics and Picture Book Illustrator Lis Xu. [Note: while Lis Xu is nominated in the Egghead (best Kids Book) category, it is assumed she was not on that particular panel as a judge].
The 2024 Winners Were Em Carroll‘s A Guest in The House (First Second) in Best Book; Vincy lim in the Nipper/Emerging Talent; Tyler Landry‘s Old Caves (Uncivilized) for Pigskin Peters/Best Small-Press; and Otis & Peanutby Naseem Hrab and Kelly Collier (Owlkids Books) for the Egghead/Best Kids.
The Doug Wright Award for Best Book
- AGE 16by Rosena Fung (Annick Press)
- Bog Myrtleby Sid Sharp (Annick Press)
- I’M SO Glad We Had This Time Togetherby Maurice Vellekoop (Random House Canada)
- The Fieldby Dave Lapp (Conundrum)
- The Jellyfishby Boum; Translated by Robin Lang & Helge Dascher (Pow Pow Press)
- The Wendy Awardby Walter Scott (Drawn & quarterly)
The Nipper: The Doug Wright Award for Emerging Talent
- Boum for The Jellyfish; TRANSLATED BY ROBIN LANG AND HELGE DASCHER (Pow Pow Press)
- James Collier for Ballpark (Wig Shop / More Or Less Books)
- Rosena Fung for AGE 16 (Annick Press)
- Frances V. Reilly for The Harrowing Tales Of La Corriveau (Dirty Water Comics)
- Sid Sharp for Bog Myrtle (Annick Press)
The Pigskin Peters: The Doug Wright Award for Best Small- or Micro-Press Book
The Egghead: The Doug Wright Award for Best Kids’ Book
- Alterationsby Ray Xu (Union Square Kids)
- Lost at Windy River: A True Story of Survivalby Trine rathgeber, Alina Pete & Jillian Dolan (Orca Book Publishers)
- The New Girlby Cassandra Calin (GRAPHIX/SCHOLASTIC)
- The Racc Packby Stephanie Cooke & Whitney Gardner (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
- The Shit Witchby Lis Xu (Self-published)
Giants of the North: The Canadian Cartooning Hall of Fame
- Richard Comley (1950-), “The Co-Creator and Original Publisher of Canada’s Iconic Superhero Captain Canuck, A Character Celebrating His Fifthieth Anniversary in 2025”
- Lou Skuce (1886–1951), “A Newspaper and Advertising Cartoonist (and so much more) Known Thourut His Career as Canada’s Greatest Cartoonist.”
