Every year the National Cartoonists Society bestows the Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship to one talented college student pursuing a career in cartooning.
This includes comic strips, political cartoons, comic books, animation, graphic novels, editorial illustration…any cartooning discipline.
The scholarship award is $5,000 and a trip to the NCS Reuben Awards.
Jay Kennedy was my editor at King Features for several years. He encouraged me with written letters and phone calls when I first began submitting comics for newspaper syndication, and then gave me my first syndication contract. After that, I worked with Jay daily in editing my work for King Features.
I later left King after being offered a contract by Tribune Media, but none of it would have been possible without that initial time spent working with him. It was essentially hands-on training, particularly in succinct humor writing and editing, that was unavailable in any school or university. For a cartoonist or any visual story teller, those skills are as important as drawing ability.
Sadly, Jay Kennedy passed away in 2007 while vacationing in Costa Rica. (A little-known fact is that he died a hero, successfully saving his fiance who was caught in a riptide.)
The annual Jay Kennedy Scholarship was established in his memory, and is funded by an initial $100,000 grant from the Hearst Foundation/King Features Syndicate and additional donations from professional cartoonists.
Submissions are judged by a panel and an award is given to the best college cartoonist. This memorial scholarship is the sort of thing that can launch a young cartoonist's career.
If you think that might be you, enter now! Below is the info on submitting.
The winner will receive:
- $5,000 scholarship
- Trip to the National Cartoonists Society’s Reuben Awards Convention.
To enter:
- 8 samples of your own cartooning artwork (copies only); noting if and where the work has been published — either in print or on the Web.
- Print out the samples AND copy them to a CD.
- Files should be no larger than 8.5×11″ and no more than 300 dpi.
- DO NOT send original artwork.
- Completed entry form.
- Download the PDF of the entry form for more details.
https://cartoonistfoundation.org/
