The brilliant and unique Jonathan Cape/Observer/Comica Graphic short story prize, which celebrates its 12th birthday this year, is now open for entries. All entrants must do (admittedly, vastly more difficult than it sounds) is to draw and write a four-page comic designed to run over a double-page spread in the Observer New Review. Our guest judges this year are the playwright, actor and director Patrick Marber and the cartoonist (and a former winner of the prize) Isabel Greenberg. The winner receives a cheque for £1,000 and his or her work will appear in the Observer in print and online. The runner-up will receive £250 and have their work published online.
Several past winners, and even some runners-up, have gone on to land publishing deals, among them Stephen Collins (The Gigantic Beard That Was Evil) and Fumio Obata (Just So Happens). In 2009, Joff Winterhart was runner-up. His funny and sad 2012 graphic novel, Days of the Bagnold Summer, a longer version of his original entry, has now been made into a movie starring Monica Dolan and Rob Brydon that is set for release next year.
It’s fair to say, then, that this competition really can make a big difference to the life of an aspiring cartoonist. So why not have a go? What have you got to lose? Entry forms and terms and conditions can be downloaded here. The deadline for entry is Friday 11 October 2019.
