Some 150 local and international graphic novelists came together in Copenhagen over the weekend for the 2017 Pingprisen awards, an annual event acknowledging achievements in comic arts.
The weekend’s ceremony was the latest in a modern renaissance of the Pingprisen awards, which began in 1986 but received limited attention and folded a decade later.
Storm P alive in spirt
However, Pingprisen was resurrected in 2012 thanks to the combined efforts of organisations such as Danish comics magazine Number 9 as well as the Storm P Museet in Frederiksberg.
The late Storm P, perhaps Denmark’s best-known cartoonist, served in part as inspiration for the Pingprisen awards.
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Winners receive an Oscar-like silver figurine of Ping, a dapper little cartoon bird created by Storm P.
Annual award categories include ‘Best Danish Cartoon’, ‘Best Children’s Series’ and ‘Best International Comic Book’.
Sonny from Singapore
This year’s international prize went to Singapore’s Sonny Liew, whose book ‘The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye’ was ranked by the New York Times and the Washington Post as one of the best graphic novels of the year.
Liew wrote on his Facebook page: “Looking forward to seeing that bowler-hatted bird statuette’s arrival in Singapore, where he may find himself occasionally being fondly used as a paperweight.”
