04/16/2025
For Immediate Release
WHITE RIVER JUNCTION, VERMONT â The Center for Cartoon Studies is thrilled to announce the 13th annual Cartoonist Studio Prize winner whose work exemplifies excellence in cartooning. The two creators of these exceptional comics will be awarded $1,000 each. An astonishing volume of work was submitted for this yearâs award, with twelve nominees in each of the âlong-formâ categories, and the âshort-formâ categories were selected in March.
Best Long-Form Comic: Evil Eyes Sea by Ozge Samanci Uncivilized Books
Set against the backdrop of Istanbul during the 1995 elections, Ozge Samanci's Evil Eyes Sea follows a group of university students whose lives unfold in the shadow of political unrest. While the narrative touches on weighty themesâclass, religion, feminism, and the uneasy pulse of Turkish politicsâit does so with a light hand, keeping its focus on the intimate dramas of friendship, dorm life, and a lingering mystery sparked by a death the protagonists witness while scuba diving. Buy the book: uncivilizedbooks.com/evil-eyes-sea
Best Short-Form Comic: Autobiography Has Become A Stone In My Shoe by Peony Gent
Peony Gent's Autobiography Has Become A Stone In My Shoe is an exploration of attention: how we spend it, and what it means. Analyzing everything from the performance of pain in autobio work to contemporary art's place in the attention economy, Gent's comic is an arresting and powerful meditation on the online forces shaping comics today, and one of the highlights of the 2024 ShortBox Comics Fair. Buy the comic: peonygent.com