For witty one-liners, sage commentary and a belly-full of laughs, you can’t go past cartoons. It’s often been said that Australian cartoonists are the best in the world and they proved it in Parramatta SATURDAY NIGHT at the annual Stan Cross Awards.
The “Stanleys”, once described as “the Oscars for Australian cartooning”, is now in its 32nd year and was presented in seven categories, including the Gold Stanley for Cartoonist of the Year. They’re named after Stan Cross, who drew what has been acknowledged as Australia’s funniest cartoon, “For Gorsake Stop Laughing, This is Serious”. The awards themselves are modeled on the characters in his cartoon.
Sydney Morning Herald and Crikey cartoonist Glen Le Lievre was crowned Cartoonist Of The Year. The strong field of finalists included Anton Emdin, Christopher Downes, Mark Knight, Cathy Wilcox and Bill Leak. Glen was also awarded the bronze Stanley for Editorial/Political Cartoonist capping off a wonderful year for him.
Other bronze Stanley Award winners were: Judy Nadin (Caricaturist), Leigh Hobbs gathered his second consecutive award (Children’s Book Illustrator), Gary Clark - creator of “Swamp” (Comic Strip Artist), Glenn Lumsden (Comic Book Artist), Anton Emdin (Illustrator) and Matt Golding (Single Gag Cartoonist).
The Jim Russell Award was presented to comic book icon Gerald Carr, for his outstanding contribution to Australian cartooning.
And three legends were inducted into the Australian Cartooning Hall Of Fame: Ken Emerson (comic strips “On The Rocks” and “The Warrumbunglers”), Eric Jolliffe (“Witchetty’s Tribe” and “Saltbush Bill”) and retired editorial cartoonist from the Herald Sun, Geoff Hook.
Update: There are now detailed results for the 2016 Stanleys, including the finalists in each category.