Gearing up for the International 2016 Cartoon Contest

The 2016 Cartoon Awards to be presented in Denmark, Saturday, May 28, 2016 at the Hotel Niels Bugge, Viborg.

Danish film director Thomas Vinterberg, Conservative People’s Party leader Søren Pape and Viborg Mayor Torsten Nielsen are just three of the prominent guests to join the jury in celebrating this year’s winner of the International Cartoon Contest, on Saturday, May 28.

The winner is chosen by a competent international jury that have been sorting through more than 1,100 entries submitted from around the world since April of this year. Happily, the number of contributions is testament to the fact that cartoons transcend the genre and are much than the Mohammed cartoons and the Charlie Hebdo terror. This year’s field clearly shows that cartooning is an art form, founded on humour and an often surprising, creative take on reality. In close cooperation with the international cartoonist organization Federation of Cartoonist Organizations (FECO), hotel owners Gitte and Poul Nielsen have introduced the competition. This year they have gathered some of the best in the field – namely the finalists in the International Cartoon Contest to be held for the fourth consecutive year, which will include the Niels Bugge’s Cartoon Award.

The finals will be welcoming participating artists from around the world. Each cartoonist has submitted up to three drawings under this year’s theme, Utopia, of which the Jury has selected just over 100 drawings that have made it to the finals. The three best drawings and the artists behind them have been selected, and will, of course, be attending the awards ceremony, which includes cash prizes, gold, silver and bronze plaques, as well as a one week all expenses paid stay in Denmark. The winners and their winning entries will be revealed on the day.

”Last year, when we had to choose the theme for the 2016 Niels Bugge Cartoon Award, we wanted a theme that embraces the world’s many challenges, without locking ourselves onto the topics of war, famine, anxiety and fear. We wanted to attract contributors from around the world to represent the complete range of human emotion, from joy to sorrow through hope and despair. We picked Utopia because it personifies the dreams and harsh reality that peoples and individuals face when moving away from threats and loss and towards hope. This approach has proved successful, and we have been pleasantly surprised by the diversity demonstrated by the many clever cartoonists from around the globe. We’re looking forward to showing you, which three artists made the finals and to celebrate the winners,” says Jury Foreman Lars Refn.

The winning entries were selected by a panel of judges that in addition to Jury President and satirist Lars Refn include Danish cartoonist Claus Seidel, Bernard Bouton, FECO Secretary General, the Swedish cartoonist Riber Hansson and Marlene Pohle, FECO Vice President of Argentina. The awards ceremony will take place at the hotel from 12pm-3pm, and will be followed by a reception and banquet at Hotel Niels Bugge, where master of ceremonies, Thomas Bundgaard, will be conducting the evening’s events.

New this year: Around 100 Danish eight graders from Viborg take part in a separate competition with the same theme – to discover kids’ take on Utopia. Jens Julius, Per Arnoldi and Claus Seidel sit on the Children’s Jury that select the winning entries, and the students will take part in the ceremony together with their homeroom teachers.

Visit www.nielsbuggeaward.org for more information on this year’s Cartoon Awards, the Jury, rules of entry, participation, etc.

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Maria Papaefstathiou

VISUAL DESIGNER since 1996 and blogger since 2010. Living in Athens, Greece. She has been focusing her research on poster design and particularly on social poster design and portrait design. Her main poster project is a series of posters celebrating great personalities of traditional and popular culture in Greece and Jamaica. These include actors, singers, musicians, poets etc. This is an ongoing project. “I believe that design is a powerful tool that we designers can use to spark enthusiasm, change mindsets and bring positive actions to our world and our culture”. FOUNDER AND EDITOR OF GRAPHICART-NEWS.COM BLOG. She carefully curates high-quality designs, illustrations, and art, from all over the world that will teach and provoke other designers. Many consider her blog to be an exceptional educational tool. CO-FOUNDER OF THE INTERNATIONAL REGGAE POSTER CONTEST which was launched on December 2011, partnering, the creative activist Michael Thompson aka Freestylee. (www.reggaepostercontest.com)