The Ally Sloper Awards was an annual awards ceremony recognising veteran British comic creators, initiated by the comics historian

Denis Gifford Denis Gifford (26 December 1927 – 18 May 2000)Holland, Steve, Obituaries: Denis Gifford', ''The Guardian'', 26 May 2000. was a British writer, broadcaster, journalist, comic artist and historian of film, comics, television and radio. In h ...

in 1976. From 1978, they were awarded under the auspices of the Association of Comic Enthusiasts, also founded by Gifford. The awards were named after

Ally Sloper Alexander "Ally" Sloper is the eponymous fictional character of the British comic strip ''Ally Sloper''. First appearing in 1867, he is considered one of the earliest comic strip characters and he is regarded as the first recurring character in c ...

, the nineteenth-century British comic character championed by Gifford as the world's first comic character. Gifford also launched and edited an ''Ally Sloper'' 'comic magazine' in 1976 (published by

Alan Class Comics Alan Class Comics was a British comics publishing company that operated between 1959 and 1989. The company produced comics anthology, anthology titles, reprinting comics stories from many U.S. publishers of the 1940s to 1960s in a black and white ...

). The award itself was a figurine of Ally Sloper, based on brass doorstops that were produced as merchandising in the nineteenth century. Prize-giving of the first Ally Sloper Awards for comics creators took place at Gifford's

Comics 101 a Media (communication), medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of Panel (comics), panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, Glo ...

comics convention, held March 19–21, 1976, at the Mount Royal Hotel, London, with TV comedian

Bob Monkhouse Robert Alan Monkhouse (1 June 1928 – 29 December 2003) was an English comedian, writer and actor. He was the host of television game shows including ''The Golden Shot'', ''Celebrity Squares'', ''Family Fortunes'' and '' ''Wipeout'. Early ...

presenting.

Predecessors

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, joke awards, known as the Sloper Award of Merit, had been issued while Ally Sloper was at the peak of his popularity, to topical figures such as

Scott of the Antarctic Captain Robert Falcon Scott, , (6 June 1868 – c. 29 March 1912) was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the ''Discovery'' expedition of 1901–1904 and the ill-fated ''Terra N ...

, and others who made the news for unusual achievement.

Award winners

1976

* Best British Newspaper Strip Cartoon Artist: Steve Dowling – for ''

Garth Garth may refer to: Places * Garth, Alberta, Canada * Garth, Bridgend, a village in south Wales :* Garth railway station (Bridgend) * Garth, Ceredigion, small village in Wales * Garth, Powys, a village in mid Wales :* Garth railway station (Powy ...

'' in ''

The Daily Mirror ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' * First British Science Fiction Artist: Stanley White – for ''Ian on Mu'' in ''Mickey Mouse Weekly'' (1936) * Best British Strip Cartoon Artist:

Frank Hampson Frank Hampson (21 December 1918 – 8 July 1985) was a British illustrator. He is best known as the creator and artist of Dan Dare and other characters in the boys' comic, the ''Eagle'', to which he contributed from 1950 to 1961. Biogra ...

– for ''

Dan Dare Dan Dare is a British science fiction comic hero, created by illustrator Frank Hampson who also wrote the first stories. Dare appeared in the ''Eagle'' comic story ''Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future'' from 1950 to 1967 (and subsequently in repri ...

'' in ''

Eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

'' (1950s) * IPC sponsored award for outstanding work in their own publications:

Don Lawrence Donald Southam Lawrence (17 November 1928 – 29 December 2003) was a British comic book artist and author. Lawrence is best known for his comic strips '' The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire'' in the British weeklies ''Ranger'' and ''Look ...

– for ''

The Trigan Empire ''The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire'', later called simply ''The Trigan Empire'', is a science fiction comic series written mainly by Mike Butterworth with artwork (initially watercolours, later gouache) by Don Lawrence, among others. It t ...

'' in ''

Ranger A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

'' and ''

Look and Learn ''Look and Learn'' was a British weekly educational magazine for children published by Fleetway Publications Ltd from 1962 until 1982. It contained educational text articles that covered a wide variety of topics from volcanoes to the Loch Ness ...

'' * Gold Award: Terry Wakefield and his father George (Billy) Wakefield – for strips in ''Tiny Tots'', ''Bubbles'', ''Tip Top'', ''Butterfly'' and ''Joker'', amongst other titles.

1980

* Lifetime achievement:

Hugh McNeill Hugh may refer to: *Hugh (given name) Noblemen and clergy French * Hugh the Great (died 956), Duke of the Franks * Hugh Magnus of France (1007–1025), co-King of France under his father, Robert II * Hugh, Duke of Alsace (died 895), modern-day ...

(was to receive the award but died the day before the announcement was made)

1981

* Lifetime achievement: Ernest Shaw

1982

* Lifetime Achievement: Fred Robinson

References

{{British Comic Book Industry Awards British awards Comics awards Awards established in 1976 1976 establishments in the United Kingdom

Predecessors

Award winners

1976

1980

1981

1982

See also

References