Nominees of the 2026 Doug Wright Awards

From the Doug Wright Awards website.

Here are the nominees of the 22nd annual Doug Wright Awards which will be given out on Saturday June 6 at the Arts & Letters Club in Toronto.

Best Book 

• Holy Lacrimony, Michael DeForge (Drawn & Quarterly)
• Muybridge, Guy Delisle (Drawn & Quarterly)
• Cannon, Lee Lai (Drawn & Quarterly)
• Salt Green Death, Katarina Thorsen (Conundrum)
• The Last Band on Earth, Elaine M. Will(Renegade Arts Entertainment)

The Nipper (Emerging Talent)

• Mollie Cronin, Future Me Is Fat (Conundrum)
• Jordana Globerman, Soul Machine (Annick Press)
• Stefano Jun, Modern Asian Family: Straight Outta Busan (Renegade Arts Entertainment)
• Alex Swift, The Connoisseurs (Frog Farm)
• Lis Xu, Layover and Mad (Self-published) & Raccoon Rescue (Gytha Press)

The Pigskin Peters (Best Small- or Micro-Press Book)

• Life After Life, Joshua Barkman (Self-published)
• Soft Serve & Nosferatu, Matthew Daley (Self-published)
• Old Souls, Jackarais (Cloudscape Comics Society)
• Mobile Gang Fortress, Alexander Laird (Frog Farm)
• Pass Me By: Lily, Kat Simmers and Ryan Danny Owen (Renegade Arts Entertainment)

The Egghead (Best Kids’ Book)

• Way off Track, Carl Brundtland and Claudia Dávila (Kids Can Press)
• Howler Reef, Mike Deas and Nancy Deas (Orca Book Publishers)
• Fantastic Lou, Qin Leng (Tundra)
• Paisley & Peck: Jurassic Farm, J. Torres and Mike Deas (Owlkids)
• My Sister the Werebeast, Alina Tysoe (First Second)

Giants of the North: The Canadian Cartooning Hall of Fame

This year’s Giants of the North inductees are, ironically, known for characters that are small: Emily Hearn (1925–2015) and Mark Thurman, the co-creators of The Mighty Mites, which appeared for many years in Owlmagazine; and Arch Dale (1882–1962), an editorial cartoonist and the creator of The Doo Dads.

The Ceremony

The 22nd annual Doug Wright Awards, with host Ho Che Anderson, takes place at the historic Arts & Letters Club, 14 Elm Street, Toronto, on Saturday, June 6, at 8 p.m. ET. 

Changes: If any of the above information is incorrect, drop us a line by Monday, May 11. We’ll fix it.

Nominees for the 2026 Doug Wright Awards were selected from entries of books published in the 2025 calendar year. The short list and winners were chosen by a panel of three judges per category.

Mike Deas stands alone as the only multiple nominee this year, with two nods in the Best Kids’ Book category.

Publishers of multiple nominees include Conundrum, Drawn & Quarterly, Frog Farm, and Renegade Arts Entertainment.

Each winner will receive a small cash prize, and the winner of The Nipper will be awarded a week-long stay at the Valleyview Artist Retreat, in Caledon, Ontario. 

The event will also be livestreamed on YouTube (subscribe now so you don’t miss out).