This year the National Cartoonists Society held it’s Reuben Awards in our nation’s capital, Washington, DC at the Omni Shoreham. It was an amazing weekend and I was so honored to be one of the featured speakers.
First up was an event at the Library of Congress for King Features’ 100th anniversary. Then it was back to the Omni for presentations.
I was up first and I think my talk went really well. I made a recording of it and I’m hoping to post it in a week or so. So stay tuned!
Other speakers for the weekend included Juana Medina, Doug Mahnke, Nick Galifianakis, Brian Crane, Mort Drucker, and a panel hosted by Ann Telnaes.
I think one of the most exciting parts of the weekend for me was meeting Mort Gerberg. He came to my presentation and came up to chat with me afterward. His book, Cartooning: The Art and the Business, was a gigantic help and influence to me when I was just getting started. I was so thrilled to meet him. What a wonderful and kind man.
I also met tons of other people who wanted to chat about my presentation. Everyone had a lot of questions and I was so pleased to talk with them!
Later that night there was a cocktail party and I got to chat with tons of people including Anne & John Hambrock, Adrian Sinnott, Ken Krimstein, and Brigid Alverson.
The next morning was a trip to the zoo. It was just a 10 minute walk away!
Saturday evening was the big awards dinner with a pre-show cocktail party. Again, I got to chat with so many nice people including Tom Richmond, Tom Gamill, Brian Kelly, Tom Stemmle, John Glynn, and Mo Willems.
And of course, my best pal Mike Lynch!
The awards were terrific. (Click here for the list of winners.) Jason Chatfield did a terrific job hosting!
The next day I spent touring DC a bit. I’ve never been here before and really wanted to take it all in.
Well, that’s it. Huge thanks to Tom Richmond and the NCS for inviting me, the lovely Anna for helping things to run smoothly, Latisha Moore for keeping everything organized, John Lotshaw for calming my nerves and making my talk run smoothly, and everyone who was kind enough to take the time to chat with me. What a wonderful and exciting weekend!