Cartoonist Loïc Hsiao (蕭言中), whose creative comics are praised to have reflected collective memory shared by generations, was named the recipient of 11th Golden Comic Awards' Special Contribution Award. The Ministry of Culture on Aug. 14 announced the 24 shortlisted candidates among 193 submissions and the winner of the Special Contribution Award.
In addition to creating a unique illustrating technique in recent years that catches the movement of Chinese martial arts and the spirit Zen on paper, 55-year-old Hsiao is a versatile cartoonist who has balanced the roles of theatre director, actor, singer, and program host, according to the award jury.
His works, the jury further shared, including "Short: Fairy Tales Untold (童話短路)," "Here Come The Smarties (笨賊一籮筐)," and "Boggled Brain (腦筋急轉彎)," provide a common thread linking up the memories of people from different generations.
Established in 2010, the Golden Comic Awards, Taiwan's most prestigious national award for the comic arts, was launched to encourage the production of outstanding and creative comics, and to recognize special contributions made by those in Taiwan's comic publishing industry. Previous laureates of the awards include late manga guru Hsu Mao-song (許貿淞), prolific artist Ao Yu-hsiang (敖幼祥), and renowned cartoonist Zhu De-yong (朱德庸).
In light of the increasingly diverse themes and creating styles emerging in Taiwan's comics landscape, this year's Golden Comic Awards merged five categories into one called "Comics of The Year" to examine Taiwan's current comic scene from a brand new angle while taking into account the depth of all the selected illustrations.
The challenging change has seen the selection for the "Comics of The Year" category based on works that showcase finalists' elaborate approach to art. The winning illustrations will not only be highly original and ambitious, but also manifest rich yet subtle emotions.
This year's Golden Comic Awards will offer a total of NT$2.45 million in prize money – the largest amount in the history of the awards. The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on Sept. 28, with a total of six recipients of the "Comics of The Year" category. Among the six winners, one will be selected to receive the Best Comic Grand Prize.