The Angoulême International Comics Festival (french: Festival international de la bande dessinée d'Angoulême) is the second largest

comics a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...

festival in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

after the

Lucca Comics & Games Lucca Comics & Games is an annual Comic book convention, comic book and gaming convention in Lucca, Italy, traditionally held at the end of October, in conjunction with All Saints' Day. It is the largest comics festival in Europe, and the second ...

in Italy, and the third biggest in the world after

and the Comiket of Japan. It has occurred every year since 1974 in

Angoulême Angoulême (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Engoulaeme''; oc, Engoleime) is a communes of France, commune, the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Charente Departments of France, department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of southwestern Franc ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, in January.

History

The Angoulême International Comics Festival was founded by French writers and editors and Jean Mardikian, and comics writer and scholar .Pasamonik, Didier
"Disparition de Claude Moliterni, fondateur du Festival d’Angoulême ,"
'ActuaBD'' (Jan. 21, 2009). Moliterni served as co-organizer of the festival through 2005.

Attendance

More than 200,000 visitors come each year to the fair, including between 6,000 and 7,000 professionals and 800 journalists. The attendance is generally difficult to estimate because the festival takes place all over the town, and is divided in many different areas that are not connected to each other directly.

Official prizes

The four-day festival is notable for awarding several prestigious prizes in cartooning. The awards at Angoulême were originally called the Alfred awards, after the pet

auk An auk or alcid is a bird of the family Alcidae in the order Charadriiformes. The alcid family includes the murres, guillemots, auklets, puffins, and murrelets. The word "auk" is derived from Icelandic ''álka'', from Old Norse ''alka'' (a ...

from ''

Zig et Puce ''Zig et Puce'' is a Franco-Belgian comics series created by Alain Saint-Ogan in 1925 that became popular and influential over a long period. After ending production, it was revived by Greg (comics), Greg for a second successful publication run. ...

'' by

Alain Saint-Ogan Alain Saint-Ogan (; August 7, 1895 – June 22, 1974) was a French comics author and artist. Biography In 1925, he created the well-known comic strip ''Zig et Puce'' (''Zig and Flea''), which initially appeared in the ''Dimanche Illustré'' ...

. In 1989, the name changed to the Alph-art awards, honoring the final, unfinished ''Tintin'' album by

Hergé Georges Prosper Remi (; 22 May 1907 – 3 March 1983), known by the pen name Hergé (; ), from the French pronunciation of his reversed initials ''RG'', was a Belgian cartoonist. He is best known for creating ''The Adventures of Tintin'', ...

. In 2003, the Alph-art name was dropped, and they are now simply called "The Official Awards of the International Comics Festival" (''le Palmarès Officiel du Festival international de la bande dessinée''). In 2007,

Lewis Trondheim Lewis Trondheim (born Laurent Chabosy, , on 11 December 1964), is a French cartoonist and one of the founders (in 1990) of the independent publisher L'Association. Both his silent comic ''La Mouche'' and Kaput and Zösky have been made into animat ...

(2006 Grand Prix winner) created a mascot for the festival, ''Le Fauve'' (The Wildcat), and since 2008 the prize winners have received wildcat statuettes, with the Best Album statuette coated in gold. Since this year, the award is called the ''fauve'' and the best album, the ''fauve d'or''. The prizes were reorganized too, to create a pool of 40-60 albums, called "official selections," from which are awarded the "Best Album" prize, five "Angoulême Essentials," one "Revelation Essential" (given to rookie creators), and one Essential chosen by the public. The Heritage Essential (for reprinted material) and Youth Essential are selected from separate nominee pools. Additionally, the ''

Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême The Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême is a lifetime achievement award given annually during the Angoulême International Comics Festival to a comics author. Although not a monetary award, it is considered the most prestigious award in Franco-Be ...

'' is awarded each year to a living creator honoring their lifetime achievement, and the Grand Prix winner becomes president of the next year's festival. Traditionally, the president heads the prize jury of the next year's festival, illustrates the festival poster, and is given an exhibition of his or her work. In 50 years, only three women have been awarded the prize:

Florence Cestac Florence Cestac (born 18 July 1949) is a French cartoonist and former publisher. She is the first woman to have won the prestigious ''Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême'', in 2000, and was the only one until Rumiko Takahashi in 2019. Career Bor ...

Rumiko Takahashi is a Japanese manga artist. With a career of several commercially successful works, beginning with '' Urusei Yatsura'' in 1978, Takahashi is one of Japan's best-known and wealthiest manga artists. Her works are popular worldwide, where they have ...

, and

Julie Doucet Julie Doucet (born December 31, 1965)
is a Canadian

Other prizes

* Prize for School Comic * Prize for Young Talent (Prix Jeunes Talents) * Prize for Young Talent from the Region * "Strip" Prize * Prize of the Students of Poitou-Charentes (secondary school) * Prize of the Students of Angoulême (primary school) * Prize for Alternative Comics * Hippocampus Prize (for creators with disabilities) * Other prizes have been created on the margins of the festival, known as the Off Of Off. These awards are the Prix Tournesol, the Shlingo Award and the Prix Couilles-au-cul, literally translated as the "Balls to the buttocks" award, deriving from the french slang expression for bravery, and who celebrates and encourages artistic freedom in artists whose activism is repressed in their home countries.

Prize categories

Grand Prize A prize is an award to be given to a person or a group of people (such as sporting teams and organizations) to recognize and reward their actions and achievements.

* Prize for Best Album/Golden Wildcat * Special Prize of the Jury * Prize for Artwork * Prize for First Comic Book * Prize for a Series * Prize for Inheritance * Prix Jeunesse 9-12 ans (Youth prize, 9–12 years) * Prix Jeunesse 7-8 ans (Youth prize, 7–8 years) * Fanzine Prize * Revelation Prize * Best promotional comic * René Goscinny award

References

External links

*
Awards
*
ActuaBD
(in French) {{DEFAULTSORT:Angouleme International Comics Festival Comics conventions Cultural festivals in France Multigenre conventions Festivals established in 1974 Tourist attractions in Charente Festivals in France 1974 establishments in France Angoulême