NCS REUBENS 2013: To his ‘disbelief,’ Dave Whamond leads impressive class of finalists

ILLUSTRATOR DAVE WHAMOND have never before been a finalist for a National Cartoonists Society award.

On Tuesday, once again, he wasn't recognized in a single category.

Instead, to his shock, he was cited in two categories.

Whamond's twin honors led the field as the NCS today announced its 2013 divisional nominees in 15 categories for the 67th annual Reuben Awards.

"My first reaction to hearing [NCS officer] Sean Parkes telling me I was nominated in Newspaper Illustration was disbelief," Whamond tells Comic Riffs on Tuesday.

"I was in shock at the first nomination, then he said, 'Aaaannnd ... you have a second nomination in Best Book Illustration.' The room then started spinning and I don't remember much after that."

Turns out, one reason for the dizzy reaction was that Whamond's guard was down.

"Part of it was that Sean had left me a message earlier that he needed me to call him back, as he had a quick question," Whamond tells us, "so it was the last thing I expected.

"Punk'd!"

The other nominees in Newspaper Illustration are Mark Brewer and Bob Rich; the other finalists in Book Illustration are John Manders and John Martz. (Whamond wrote and illustrated the 2012 book "Oddrey.")

The field of finalists is an embarrassment of richly honored top talents, including winners of the Reuben, the Pulitzer, the Eisner and the Harvey — as well as Oscar nominees and a handful of New Yorker cartoonists.

.
(courtesy of NCS 2013 - .)

The NCS announced the Reuben finalists last month: "Pickles" creator Brian Crane, "Baby Blues" co-creator Rick Kirkmanand "Pearls Before Swine" creator Stephan Pastis.

The Reuben (named for the legendary Rube Goldberg) will be presented May 25 at the NCS awards dinner in Pittsburgh.

Here is the full list of 2013 NCS division finalists:

NEWSPAPER COMIC STRIPS

Brian Basset, "Red and Rover"

Jeff Parker and Steve Kelley, "Dustin"

Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman, "Zits"

NEWSPAPER PANEL CARTOONS

Tony Carrillo, "F-Minus"

Dave Coverly, "Speed Bump"

Hilary Price, "Rhymes with Orange"

EDITORIAL CARTOONS

Clay Bennett

Michael de Adder

Jen Sorensen

COMIC BOOKS

Amanda Conner, "Silk Spectre"

Evan Dorkin, "House of Fun"

Bernie Wrightson, "Frankenstein Alive, Alive!"

GRAPHIC NOVELS

Derf, "My Friend Dahmer"

Joseph Lambert, "Annie Sullivan and the Trials of Helen Keller"

Chris Ware, "Building Stories"

ONLINE COMICS — SHORT FORM

Graham Harrop, "Ten Cats"

Jonathan Lemon, "Rabbits Against Magic"

Michael McParlane, "Mac"

ONLINE COMICS — LONG FORM

Vince Dorse, "Untold Tales of Bigfoot"

Meredith Gran, "Octopus Pie"

Pat N. Lewis, "Muscles Diablo in Where Terror Lurks"

FEATURE ANIMATION

Rich Moore, director, "Wreck-It Ralph"

Joann Sfar, director, "The Rabbi's Cat"

Hiromasa Yonebayashi, director, "The Secret World of Arriety"

TELEVISION ANIMATION

Todd Kauffman, executive producer, "Sidekick"

Alberto Mielgo, production design, "Tron: Uprising"

Rich Webber, director, Aardman Animation Studios, "DC Nation"

GAG CARTOONS

Roz Chast

Sam Gross

Mick Stevens

Jack Ziegler

GREETING CARDS

Bill Brewer

George Schill

Jem Sullivan

MAGAZINE FEATURE/MAGAZINE ILLUSTRATION

Barry Blitt

Daryll Collins

Anton Emdin

ADVERTISING and PRODUCT ILLUSTRATION

Luke McGarry

Ed Steckley

Wayno

BOOK ILLUSTRATION

John Manders

John Martz

Dave Whamond

NEWSPAPER ILLUSTRATION

Mark Brewer

Bob Rich

Dave Whamond

Source: http://www.news.theusalinks.com/2013/03/26/ncs-reubens-2013-to-his-disbelief-dave-whamond-leads-impressive-class-of-finalists/