The Lakes International Comic Art Festival (LICAF) is delighted to announce Juanjo Guarnido as the winner of the Sergio Aragonés International Award for Excellence in Comic Art.
Juanjo was presented with the award during the Opening Night event of the Festival’s weekend-long Festival in Bowness-on-Windermere.
Above: Artist Juanjo Guarnido is presented with the 2024 Sergio Aragonés International Award for Excellence in Comic Art by The National Cartoonists Society President Tom Richmond. Photo: Dean Simons
Alexa Frank was also announced as the winner of this year’s Sophie Castille Awards for Comics in Translation – English, for her translation of “沖合の雷” (“Offshore Lightning”) by Saito Nazuna, translated from Japanese and published by Drawn & Quarterly.
The Sergio Aragonés International Award for Excellence in Comic Art, named after the world-famous cartoonist, best known for his work on MAD and as co-creator of Groo, was established in 2017 by The National Cartoonists Society, the world’s largest and most prestigious organisation of professional cartoonists, in partnership with the Lakes International Comic Art Festival, and is presented annually to an exceptional comic artist, animator, or cartoonist.
Born in Granada, Spain, in 1967, artist Juanjo Guarnido is co-creator of the comic book series, Blacksad. He spent his childhood drawing, in the town of Salobreña, before moving north to Granada with his family. There, he studied Fine Arts, joined the local fanzines and had some Marvel character illustrations published by Comics Forum. He turned next to animation, moving to Madrid, to work for the Lápiz Azul animation studio.
On his first day at Lápiz Azul, Guarnido met Juan Díaz Canales, who would become his friend and the writer of Blacksad. In 1993, Guarnido moved to Paris to join the Walt Disney Studios in Montreuil, where he moved from layout work (on The Goofy Movie, Mickey’s Runaway Brain, and Hunchback of Notre Dame) to character animation (Hades in Hercules; Tarzan and Sabor in Tarzan; and Helga in Atlantis). Guarnido also contributed to The Jungle Book 2 and Lorenzo the Cat before the French Disney office closed down, ten years after he was first hired.
A longtime fan both of the European bande dessinée market and of American comics, Guarnido patiently began the production of his first graphic album while still at Disney, working long-distance with Díaz Canales toward the 2000 publication of Blacksad: Somewhere within the Shadows. The overwhelming success of the title has allowed Guarnido to take on other projects – like Sorcelleries with writer Teresa Valero – or directing and animating the music video Freak of the Week for the Swedish band Freak Kitchen.
Five issues of Blacksad were released between 2000 and 2013. Guarnido spent then three years and a half working on the one-issue, ambitious 145 pages fully watercolour graphic novel Les Indes Fourbes, with script by Alain Ayroles, which hit Europe in autumn 2019 with huge success, and has recently completed and published the two-issue Blacksad adventure They All Fall Down.
Previous winners are Dave McKean (2017), Hunt Emerson (2018), Charlie Adlard (2019), Boulet (2021), Posy Simmonds (2022) and VIZ comic, edited by Graham Drury and Simon Thorp, in 2023.
The Lakes International Comic Art Festival, supported by the Arts Council, the Lake District National Park Authority and other valued partners, took place over the weekend (27th - 29th September) in Bowness-on-Windermere, attracting hundreds of comic fans to the Lake District town for a packed comic art weekend extravaganza.
Events for comic fans of all ages took place at various venues, including The Old Laundry Theatre and Windermere Jetty Museum, offering guest panels free events for children, comic workshops, exhibitions, and more. As usual, the Festival also offered plenty of family-friendly activities.
The Lakes International Comic Art Festival returns to Bowness-on-Windermere Friday 26th - Sunday 28th September 2025
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