We previously announced the team at London’s Cartoon Museum had revealed the overall winner of The Alison Brown Young Comics Maestro Award for 2026 is 12 year-old comic artist Esther Harrison – and now we can bring you the runners up, too.
Every year, The Cartoon Museum’s Young Comics Maestro competition seeks out the best young comic creators aged 18 or below. Entrants submit a comic-strip story up to three pages in length and their work is judged by a panel of industry professionals.
This year’s judges were Steve Marchant, Holly Burrows (The Cartoon Museum), Laura Bentley (The Phoenix), Matt Baxter (Baxter & Bailey), and graphic novel artist/writers Hannah Berry, Mark Stafford, and Patrice Aggs.
This year, there were 25 entries and the standard was higher than ever, which led to much debate between the judges before they settled on an overall winner and two runners up.
As we previously reported, this year’s Young Comics Maestro is Esther Harrison, aged 12, for ‘Spirits of Yonder Forest’.
Esther wins £200 and her pages will be on display at The Cartoon Museum from the end of October. They can also be viewed on our website: https://www.cartoonmuseum.org/competitions
The runners up are Charlie Bilbie, aged 16, for ‘Where’s the Lizard, Collin?’, and Elliot van den Hoed, aged 13, for ‘Me vs Cat’. They each win £50.
Prize money comes from the legacy of Alison Brown, the Cartoon Museum’s front of house manager who sadly passed away in 2021.
The winning entries can be seen below…
Esther Harrison: Spirits of Yonder Forest
Charlie Bilbie: Where’s the Lizard, Collin?
Elliot van den Hoed: Me vs Cat
Head downthetubes for…
• The Cartoon Museum is online at cartoonmuseum.org and at 63 Wells St, London, W1A 3AE
- About the Author
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: British Comics, Comic Art, Comics, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News
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