‘This One Summer’ Wins 2015 Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize
This One Summer, a “striking, relatable, and poignant” work of fiction by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki, has been awarded the Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize for 2015. The prize is named for Lynd Ward, who created six acclaimed wordless graphic novels between 1929 and 1937, and is awarded annually by the Penn State University Libraries and the Pennsylvania Center for the Book.
The two cousins will split a cash prize of $2,500 and receive a two-volume set of Ward’s six graphic works published by the Library of America. This is the latest award for This One Summer (First Second Books), which has been nominated for numerous prizes and has already been awarded Caldecott Honor and Printz Honor awards, the Canadian Governor General’s award and was the top vote getter in the 2014 PW Comics World Critics Poll.
The award jury described the book as “a beautifully drawn, keenly observed story,” told with “a sensitive eye to the emblematic moments that convey character, time and place—the surf at night, the sound of flip-flops, a guarded sigh—all at the meandering pace of a summer’s vacation.”
In addition, the Lynd Ward prize jury also awarded an honor prize to Richard McGuire for Here, an acclaimed graphic work that “curates the long history of events transpiring in one location.”
