The Yellow Kid Awards (Italian: Premio Yellow Kid) are comic book awards presented in Italy from 1970 to 1992 at Salone Internazionale dei Comics in Lucca, then from 1994 to 2005 at the Salone Internazionale dei Comics in Rome. The Yellow Kid is one of the world's first awards linked to comics. Their name refers to The Yellow Kid, a character created by the American Richard F. Outcault at the end of the 19th century, and considered one of the first comic book heroes.
History Antecedent prizes From 1966 to 1969, a previous set of prizes were awarded at the Salone Internazionale dei Comics Lucca festival, namely the Silver Plaque (Italian: Targa d'Argento) in 1966, the Golden Guinigi Tower (Italian: Torre Guinigi d'oro) in 1967 and the Grand Guinigi in 1969 (Italian: Gran Guinigi).
In 1966, during the second edition of the festival, the monthly magazine Linus presented three Silver Plaques to Orietta Garzanti, for Best Italian Publisher (for I primi eroi), Best Foreign Publication (for Giff-Wiff) and Best Italian Critic (to Piero Canotto).
The following year, 1967, the festival organized the award ceremony through an international jury. These prizes, the Golden Guinigi Tower, an homage to Lucca's most famous monument, were reserved for participants of the fair and the exhibition "I comics oggi" ("Comic Strips Today"). That year, the festival also awarded six prizes to Gian Luigi Bonelli, Cesare Zavattini, Rino Albertarelli, Benito Jacovitti, Mario Gentilini, and Alpe Editions, an initiative which was not renewed in the following years.
During the following festival, held in November 1968, the awards ceremony was canceled following protests from the authors, in the context of May 68.
The awarding of prizes at Lucca resumed in 1969, this time under the name Grand Guinigi. An encouragement prize and a criticism prize were also introduced.
The Yellow Kids From 1970, the awards were renamed after the Yellow Kid; a statuette representing the little boy dressed in a yellow nightgown began being given to the prize winners. The Yellow Kid Awards were presented at Lucca Comics & Games through 1992.
From 1994 to 2005, the Yellow Kid Awards were presented at the Salone Internazionale dei Comics festival held in Rome as part of Expocartoon.
Gran Guinigi returns (2006–present) In 2006, Lucca Comics & Games replaced the Yellow Kid Awards by bringing back the Gran Guinigi as a career accomplishment award.
Lucca Comics Awards In 2020, as the Lucca festival redubbed itself Lucca Changes amidst a shift to virtual programming during the COVID-19 pandemic, the awards shifted to a new system under the umbrella term Lucca Comics Awards, consisting of 9 categories (3 Yellow Kids, five Gran Guinigis, and one Stefano Beani Award (named for a former festival director), "regardless of nationality, editorial format or distribution method".
Categories In addition to Yellow Kid awards for Italian writers, artists, and cartoonists; and similar awards for foreign creators, the festival jury also awards special Yellow Kid prizes at its convenience. For instance, the UNICEF plaque rewarding humanist works or institutions (from 1976), renamed the Hector Œsterheld Plaque in 1986; and the Caran-d'Ache Prize rewarding illustrators (from 1978). The organization also awards special guests of the festival a Yellow Kid for "A Life Devoted to Cartooning" (from 1972) and a Caran-d’Ache for "A Life Devoted to Illustration" (from 1982).
Since 1969 accredited journalists present at the festival have also presented prizes, in particular the Fantoche Prize rewarding a critical work on animation (1973-1982); the Critics Referendum Prize rewarding a work of animation (1973), the name of which evolved regularly from 1982; and category prizes rewarding various audiovisual or cinematographic works, taking the name of the Fantoche Prize (from 1984).
Prizes are also awarded by public vote (from 1974) and by a jury dedicated to academic work (Romano Calisi Prize, from 1984).
List of Yellow Kid Award-winners Unless otherwise specified, these prizes are called the "Yellow Kid Prize for/to...". Authors Italian division Year Winner Prize 1967 Copi Golden Guinigi Tower for Artist Guido Crepax Golden Guinigi Tower for Writer 1969 Pier Carpi Grand Guinigi for Writer Michele Gazzarri Hugo Pratt Grand Guinigi for Artist 1970 Dino Battaglia Cartoonist Alfredo Castelli Writer 1971 Gianni De Luca Artist Mino Milani Writer 1972 Guido Crepax Cartoonist Grazia Nidasio Artist 1973 Guido Buzzelli Cartoonist Lino Landolfi Artist 1974 Bonvi Cartoonist Writer Artist 1975 Massimo Mattioli Cartoonist Sergio Toppi Artist 1976 Altan Cartoonist Artist 1978 Cartoonist Milo Manara Artist 1980 Daniele Panebarco Cartoonist Attilio Micheluzzi Artist Cristina Lastrego and Francesco Testa Caran-d'Ache for Illustration 1982 Vittorio Giardino Cartoonist Paolo Eleuteri Serpieri Artist Giovanni Mulazzani Caran-d'Ache for Illustration 1984 Sergio Staino Cartoonist Anna Brandoli Artist Alarico Gattia Caran-d'Ache for Illustration 1986 Cartoonist Franco Saudelli Artist Fabrizio del Tessa Caran-d'Ache for Illustration 1990 Tiziano Sclavi Cartoonist Massimo Rotundo Artist Flavio Costantini Caran-d'Ache for Illustration 1992 Giorgio Cavazzano Cartoonist Giancarlo Alessandrini Artist Riccardo Mannelli Caran-d'Ache for Illustration
Foreign/international division Year Winner Country Prize 1967 Jules Feiffer Cartoonist (Golden Guinigi Tower) 1969 Robert Gigi Artist (Grand Guinigi) Reg Smythe Cartoonist (Grand Guinigi) Robert Crumb Honorable Mention 1970 Johnny Hart Cartoonist 1971 Lee Falk Cartoonist Artist 1972 Nikita Mandryka Cartoonist Brant Parker Artist 1973 Fred Cartoonist Eduardo Teixeira Coelho Artist Alberto Breccia Special jury prize 1974 Vaughn Bodē Cartoonist Writer or cartoonist Roy Crane Special jury prize 1975 Dan O'Neill Cartoonist Jean Giraud Artist Frank Hampson Special jury prize 1976 Jeff Jones Cartoonist Enki Bilal Artist Rius UNICEF comics plaque 1978 Harry North Cartoonist Carlos Trillo Artist Bobby London Special jury prize Karel Thole Caran-d'Ache for illustration Oscar Conti UNICEF comics plaque 1980 Mœbius Cartoonist Comès Artist Ferenc Pinter Caran-d'Ache for a Master of Illustration Hector Oesterheld UNICEF comics plaque 1982 Art Spiegelman Cartoonist José Antonio Muñoz Artist Howard Chaykin Caran-d'Ache for illustration 1984 Jaime Hernandez Cartoonist Gilbert Hernandez Mario Hernandez François Bourgeon Artist Guillermo Mordillo Special jury prize Manuel Sanjuliàn Caran-d'Ache for illustration 1986 Horacio Altuna Cartoonist Serge Le Tendre Artist Bill Sienkiewicz Special jury prize Oscar Chichoni Caran d'Ache for illustration Lorenzo Mattotti Special jury prize Paul Gillon Special jury prize 1990 Kent Williams Cartoonist Matthias Schultheiss artist Juan Giménez John Bolton Caran-d'Ache for illustration 1992 François Boucq Cartoonist John Byrne Artist Frank Thomas Special jury prize Ollie Johnston Dave McKean Caran-d'Ache for illustration David Caméo Plaque Œsterheld
Rome era (1994–2005) Year Authors 1994 Giovan Battista Carpi (), Greg (), Jim Lee (), Claudio Nizzi (), James O'Barr (), Pino Rinaldi () 1995 Giancarlo Berardi (), Jordi Bernet (), Claudio Castellini (), Fred (), Neil Gaiman (), Rodolfo Torti (), Jim Valentino () 1996 Mark Bagley (), Luciano Bottaro (), Alfredo Castelli (), Carlo Chendi (), Will Eisner (), Alfonso Font (), Scott McCloud (), Bill Watterson (), Robin Wood () 1997Scott Adams (); John Dirks (); Philippe Druillet (); Michele Medda, Antonio Serra, and (); Giuseppe Palumbo (); Alberto Salinas () 1998 Paul Gillon (), Alejandro Jodorowsky (), Cinzia Leone (), Bob Lubbers (), Nicola Mari (), Jeff Smith () 1999 Luca Enoch (), Gallieno Ferri (), Jean Giraud (), Carlos Gómez (), Miguel Ángel Martín (), Vanna Vinci () 2000 Carlo Ambrosini (), David Finch (), Miguelanxo Prado (), Silvia Ziche (), Sergio Zaniboni () 2001 Massimiliano Frezzato (), Corrado Mastantuono (), Ferdinando Tacconi () 2002 Carlos Giménez (), Eduardo Risso (), Joann Sfar () 2003 Paolo Bacilieri (), Pat Masioni (), Sid Ali Melouah () 2005 Lola Airaghi (), Horacio Altuna (), Simone Bianchi (), Gilles Chaillet ()
Publishers, journals, organizations Year Winner Country Reason for the Award Prize 1967 Mondadori Editore Its publications, in particular the collection Le grandi storie Publisher (Golden Guinigi Tower) Corriere dei Piccoli Contribution to the development of Italian comics (Golden Guinigi Tower) Milano Libri For having raised the interest of a new audience Avant-garde editorial initiative (Golden Guinigi Tower) 1969 Orietta Garzanti Its edition of Little Nemo Italian publisher (Grand Guinigi) Robert Cottereau Lifetime achievement Foreign publisher (Grand Guinigi) Claudio Bertieri AZ Comics (EK) Critics Prize 1970 Mondadori Oscar Cartoons Italian publisher (periodical) Bompiani Mafalda Italian publisher (book) Pif Gadget Foreign publisher André Leborgne Ran Tan Plan Honorable mention Sansoni Enciclopedia dei fumetti Club Anni Trenta Its chronological reissues 1971 Laterza I fumetti di Mao Italian book publisher Sansoni Horror Italian periodical publisher Abril Foreign publisher Joël la Roche Corto Maltese Honorable mention 1972 Mondadori Italian book publisher Editions Lombard Tintin magazine Foreign publisher Walter Herdeg Comics (direction) Critics Prize David Pascal 1973 Its edition of Nick Carter by Bonvi Italian publisher Springer Foreign publisher 1974 Daim Press Its collection of « I Protagonisti » Italian publisher Pala All of its activities Foreign publisher Henri Filippini Their volume of tribute to Alain Saint-Ogan Honorary Yellow Kid Maurizio Bovarini 1975 Cenisio Italian publisher Glénat Foreign publisher Istituto Nazionale per la Documentazione sull'Immagine Exhibition "No al fascismo!" Honorable mention 1976 Daim Press The collection Un uomo un'avventura Italian publisher El Papus Foreign publisher Alcidio da Quinta Simplex UNICEF plaque for animated film André Leborgne Ran Tan Plan Honorable mention 1978 The totality of its activities Italian publisher Casterman À Suivre Foreign publisher 1980 Editiemme Italian publisher Epic Illustrated Foreign publisher 1982 Frigidaire Italian publisher Éditions Horay French publisher Algerian Comic Strip School UNICEF comics plaque 1984 L'Isole trovata Italian publisher Strip Art Features Foreign publisher Editoria Basca UNICEF comics plaque Editori del Grifo Glamour International Special Plaque 1986 Italian publisher Aedena Foreign publisher Plaque Hector Œesterheld 1990 Sergio Bonelli Editore Italian publisher El Víbora Foreign publisher Henri Filippini Yellow Kid awarded by the jury Carlsen Plaque Hector Œsterheld 1992 Italian publisher Tundra Publishing Foreign publisher
Rome era (1994–2005) Year Award-recipient(s) 1994Astorina (Italy), Casterman (France)1995DC Comics (United States), Eura Editoriale (Italy)1996Bonelli (Italy), Dargaud (France)1997Oreste Del Buono (Italy), Raw (United States), Edizioni d'Arte Lo Scarabeo (Italy)1998Lizard Edizioni (Italy), Dark Horse Comics (United States)1999Hazard Edizioni (Italy), El Víbora (Spain)2000L'Association (France), Macchia Nera (Italy), Mare Nero (Italy), Lanciostory (Italy)2001Kappa Edizioni (Italy)2002Coconino Press (Italy), El Jueves (Spain)2003Pascal Morelli (France), Éditions Omnibus (France)2005 Edicions de Ponent (Spain)
Film and animation prizes Critics' Referendum Prize / Lucca City Grand Prize This prize, presented by accredited journalists present at the festival, rewarded an animated work produced by Italians. It was renamed the Critics' Prize in 1982. In 1984, the prize was reconfigured as the Lucca City Grand Prize, awarded by a special jury and highlighting a recent Italian cartoon.