Cartoon Crossroads Columbus Announces Tom Spurgeon Award, Show Plans

Cartoon Crossroads Columbus logo

Cartoon Crossroads Columbus (CXC) has announced that their plans this year will incorporate a combination of in-person and online events and will take place from September 30 to October 3 in Columbus, Ohio.

Announced guests so far include
* Shary Flenniken (Trots and Bonnie)
* Victoria Jamieson (Roller Girl)
* Chris Samnee (Daredevil)
* Lewis Trondheim (too many to list)

But the announcement I found intriguing was the Tom Spurgeon Award, “named after CXC’s founding executive director [who passed away in 2019], which will be awarded to someone who is not primarily a cartoonist and whose support of cartoonists and cartoon art enhanced the field in a lasting and measurable way.” That’s a terrific idea.

“The breadth and depth of Tom’s experiences as a journalist, comics historian, and reporter make him the ideal model for an award celebrating the contributions of non-cartoonists to the field,” said Lucy Shelton Caswell, founding curator of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum at Ohio State University and a co-founder of CXC.

Cartoon Crossroads Columbus logo

The Expo, the part of the festival where creators sell works to the public, will be online. This is the seventh annual festival, and they plan to return to in-person in 2022. The event “draws together Columbus educational and arts organizations including the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, The Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus College of Art & Design, the Columbus Museum of Art and the Columbus Metropolitan Library.” Follow their website (cartooncrossroadscolumbus.org) for the latest information and guidelines.



One comment

  • That is a great idea. The Joe Shuster Awards has a similar The T.M. Maple Award, that “go to someone (living or deceased) selected from the Canadian comics community for achievements made outside of the creative and retail categories who have had a positive impact on the community.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *