The Comica/Observer/Cape Graphic Short Fiction prize 2010

By John Freeman on June 15, 2010

The Comica/Observer/Cape Graphic Short Fiction prize 2010 is now open for entries.

The deadline is 6th October 2010, with a first prize of £1000 and a runners-up prize of £250. The competition, now in its fourth year, usually creates a bit of a buzz on the British comics scene and is a good opportunity for aspiring cartoonists. The winner will see their strip published in the Observer Review (the arts section of broadsheet newspaper, The Observer), while the runner-up will have their work published at the Guardian website and on the Vintage website.

The winner (and the runners-up) of the 2008 competition can be found here. The winner (as well as the runner-up) of the 2009 competition, meanwhile, are here.

In related news, one of the competition’s judges, Rachel Cooke, has just written an article for the Guardian extolling the virtues of the medium of comics, which she discovered as an adult:

“I’m not proud of this but, for years and years, I thought that graphic novels were only read by geeky guys with long hair, fetid bedrooms and a serious fondness for thrash. Yes, I had read Maus by Art Spiegelman (just in case you don’t know, it tells the story of Spiegelman’s father, Vladek, a Polish Jew; Spiegelman draws the Jews as mice and the Nazis as cats). And I thought it was amazing, of course. But still, it seemed to me to be one of a kind. After all, graphic novels are basically comics, aren’t they? And there’s only so much a writer can do with a comic, and only so much pleasure a reader (at least a grown-up reader) can take in one.”

And, finally, last year, the Forbidden Planet International blog, did a series of posts on the various ‘non-winners’ of the 2009 that had posted their strips online. These are well worth reading and can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “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.