Announcing the Winners of the 22nd Doug Wright Awards
Posted on 07. Jun, 2026 by Brad Mackay in Uncategorized
The 22nd Doug Wright Awards were presented on Saturday, June 6, at the Arts & Letters Club, in Toronto. Here are the winners:
Best Book
(Sponsored by the Beguiling)
Cannon
Lee Lai
(Drawn & Quarterly)
The Nipper (Emerging Talent)
(Sponsored by Koyama Provides and Valleyview Artist Retreat)
Lis Xu
for Layover & Mad
(Self-published)
and
Raccoon Rescue
(Gytha Press)
The Pigskin Peters (Best Small- or Micro-press Book)
Pass Me By: Lily
Kat Simmers and Ryan Danny Owen
(Renegade Arts Entertainment)
The Egghead (Best Kids’ Book)
Howler Reef
Mike Deas and Nancy Deas
(Orca Book Publishers)
Giants of the North: The Canadian Cartooning Hall of Fame
This year’s Giants of the North inductees, ironically, are all known for creating characters that are small in size, though not in stature.
Emily Hearn (1925–2015) and Mark Thurman, the creators and original team behind The Mighty Mites, the long-running and beloved children’s comic that made its debut in Owl magazine 50 years ago, were inducted by Annabel Slaight, the co-founder and original publisher of Owl, via a pre-recorded video. Emily was a writer of books, music, and poetry. She worked for the National Film Board, the CBC, and TVO, and as a scriptwriter for the legendary kids’ program Polka Dot Door. Mark is the illustrator of numerous books and has appeared on several children’s programs, including Polka Dot Door, Romper Room, and Mr. Dress-up. He is also a teacher, currently working at Sheridan College. Mark and several members of Emily’s family were on hand to accept their inductions.
Arch Dale (1886–1951), the editorial cartoonist and creator of the Doo Dads comic strip was scheduled to be inducted by Terry Mosher. Sadly, Terry, at the last minute, was not able to attend due to a family emergency, but plans to give Arch Dale a solid induction speech next year. All research suggests Dale has no surviving relatives, though if any are out there, drop us a line. We’ll hang on to his medal until it finds a proper home.
Ephemera from the careers of Mark and Emily were on display throughout the evening.
The artist and cartoonist Ho Che Anderson hosted the Doug Wright Awards for the first time this year. Award presenters included last year’s host, Jay Odjick, multiple Doug Wright Award winner Michael DeForge, producer, writer, and interviewer Mark Askwith, and last year’s Best Book winner, Maurice Vellekoop.
The Doug Wright Awards founders, Brad Mackay and Seth, briefly appeared onstage alongside Ken Wright, Doug Wright’s son, to announce a new certificate of commendation, the Phyllis Wright Thomas Award, named in honour of Doug Wright’s widow, and our longtime supporter, who died in 2023. The inaugural certificate—which is presented at the discretion of the Doug Wright Awards executive to a book, project, person, or organization for something in the past year that does not qualify for any of the other Doug Wright Awards categories—was given to Owl magazine for fifty years of publishing and supporting comics for kids. Longtime Owl cartoonist Brian McLachlin presented a slideshow tribute to the magazine.
The awards once again played to a full house. The livestream of the ceremony can be viewed in full on the Doug Wright Awards YouTube channel.
Most of this year’s nominated books can be ordered from our friends at the Beguiling comic shop, which has once again put together a special DWA collection page on its Web site.
Sponsors
Thanks to this year’s sponsors: Crowdfundr, Koyama Provides, Valleyview Artist Retreat, Strange Adventures, the Arts & Letters Club, the Beguiling, and the Toronto Comic Arts Festival.
About the Doug Wright Awards
The Doug Wright Awards were founded in 2005 to celebrate excellence in the field of Canadian comics. The awards are named for Doug Wright (1917–1983), the creator of the long-running strip Doug Wright’s Family (a.k.a. Nipper), one of the most widely read and loved Canadian comics of the twentieth century.
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