The Slate Book Review and the Center for Cartoon Studies are proud to announce the winners of the second annual Cartoonist Studio Prize. The winners were selected by Slate Book Review editor Dan Kois, the faculty and students at the Center for Cartoon Studies, and this year’s guest judge, Christopher Butcher of the Toronto comic book store The Beguiling and co-founder of the Toronto Comic Arts Festival.

Congratulations to our two winners, who each receive $1,000 and, of course, eternal glory, joining last year’s winners, Noelle Stevenson and Chris Ware.

The winner of the Best Graphic Novel prize is Taiyo Matsumoto for Sunny Vol. 1 and Sunny Vol. 2, two beautifully drawn and uniquely skewed manga about life inside a Japanese orphanage. Published by VIZ Media.




The rest of the books on the shortlist:

Boxers and Saints by Gene Luen Yang.

The Encyclopedia of Early Earth by Isabel Greenberg.

The Initiates: A Comic Artist and a Wine Artisan Exchange Jobs by Étienne Davodeau.




Julio’s Day by Gilbert Hernández.

Map of Days by Robert Hunter.

Paul Joins the Scouts by Michel Rabagliati.

The Property by Rutu Modan.




Susceptible by Geneviève Castrée.

Today Is the Last Day of the Rest of Your Life by Ulli Lust.

* * *

The winner of the Best Web Comic prize is Emily Carroll for Out of Skin, a dark fairy tale about a woman living alone in the woods and the ghosts that haunt her.




The rest of the Web comics on the shortlist:

As the Crow Flies by Melanie Gillman.

Bouletcorp by Boulet.

Gunshow by KC Green.




Household by Sam Alden.

The Lone Wolf by Jennifer Parks.

Lucky by Gabrielle Bell.

Oh Joy, Sex Toy by Erika Moen.




Sticks Angelica by Michael DeForge.

Subnormality by Winston Rowntree.

Congratulations to our winners and to all our nominees.

Special thanks to the sponsors of the Cartoonist Studio Prize: