The Lifetime Achievement Award of the 5th Golden Comic Awards, Taiwan's highest honors for professional comic artists and illustrators, will go to senior comic artist Ao You-xiang (敖幼祥) this year.
Ao is best known for his 1982 comedy "Black Dragon Courtyard” series, which were hugely popular in the 1980s and inspired many comic fans to become serious cartoonists. The result was a boom of local comic artists in diverse styles, giving rise to a new generation of original Taiwanese comics.
Ao also founded the labor union for comic artists as the government tried to revive censorship on comics during the 1980s, uniting the cartoonist community in protest against the measure. Ultimately, the system was never re-implemented.
The Golden Comics Awards are the top honors for Taiwan's original comics and the prize money has been increased from NT$1.25 million (US$40,850) to NT$1.95 million this year. Each category has also been amended to have only one winner instead of a top award and a merit award.
The awards include eight categories - Best Contribution to Comics for the Year Award, Best Comic Grand Prize, Best Young Male Comic Award, Best Young FemaleComic Award, Best General Comic Award, Best New Comic Artist, Best Potential Award, and Lifetime Achievement Award.
The full list of winners is set to be released in early November.
"Black Dragon Courtyard" details the daily lives of those who live in the titular temple of martial arts. Against the backdrop of the imperial Chinese Song Dynasty, they jest, fight, and band together against the forces of evil as hilarity ensues.
Ao, 57, is one of the bestselling comic artists in the Chinese-speaking world.