tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1293692046154595853.post4123057799990703653..comments2023-11-02T11:08:10.968-04:00Comments on The Cultural Magpie: Awards process is ‘imperfect’’ and ‘imprecise’ say GG juristsBrad Mackayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16598315230183851740noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1293692046154595853.post-24416508268766759712008-11-17T10:07:00.000-05:002008-11-17T10:07:00.000-05:00First off, my comment was not aimed at Melanie her...First off, my comment was not aimed at Melanie herself but the Council as an organization. (Even then, I don't mean to discount the indisputable good work the Council has done to support comics and cartoonists through grants etc.) I assumed she was speaking on behalf of the Council rather than expressing her personal belief. So, no harm intended. <BR/><BR/>Everything else you say is sober and well-reasoned. Yet I don't understand why you think recognizing Jillian Tamaki would trivialize other Canadian illustrators. The point Seth and Chester (and indeed many others) is trying to make, is that Jillian is a cartoonist and her role in Skim is much different than just making some pictures to accompany spare text. <BR/><BR/>Indeed, recognizing Jillian in the nomination would be a way of telling her and her colleagues that the Council understands her historically maligned and much-misunderstood medium. <BR/><BR/>Also, if you (and the jury members) agree that the GG categories have been flawed for some time now, why should Jillian or any other cartoonist suffer the consequences?Brad Mackayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16598315230183851740noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1293692046154595853.post-2932587732978914752008-11-16T08:49:00.000-05:002008-11-16T08:49:00.000-05:00"Pat and toothless"? This kind of personal attack ..."Pat and toothless"? This kind of personal attack on the most forward-looking, writer and publisher-friendly director that this section of the Canada Council has had in recent years is very distressing.<BR/><BR/>The nomination can't be changed, not without cancelling or postponing the award for the year and taking every book submitted back to the jury for reconsideration. The reason for this is right there in your post, and implicit in Seth and Chester Brown's open letter -- the words/images debate goes beyond comic and graphic novels. A jury that has been asked to look only at words will try to do that (even though it's obviously impossible for them to do so in isolation). Making such a change to the nomination could be seen as trivializing the textual contribution of every other illustrator that had a book submitted to the award.<BR/><BR/>By saying this I don't mean to detract from Jillian Tamaki's obvious achievement, or the motivation behind the open letter. The children's GG categories were never appropriate, and neither graphic novels nor YA fiction are well-served by being put into boxes created for picture-books. But you don't fix the system by trivializing the changes required or attacking the people who can make them. Instead, make the case for the way the genre should be judged. Recruit the help of those children's and trade publishers who release graphic novels but don't necessarily have the understanding that those who have devoted their lives to the genre do. With any luck you'll see change. Not this year, but maybe next.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com