Lakes International Comic Arts Festival Announces Second Sophie Castille Award For Comics In Translation
by Richard Bruton
Lakes International Comic Art Festival (LICAF) recently announced the second Sophie Castille Award for Comics in Translation. Once more partnering with VIP Brands and Comica, the awards are for the best translation of graphic novels into a variety of languages around the world.
The awards have been created in honour of Sophie Castille, the international rights director and VP of licensing for Mediatoon and cofounder and director of Europe Comics, who died unexpectedly in 2022. It’s exactly right that Sophie should be honoured in this way as she worked tirelessly in comics since the late 1990s to bring bandes dessinées and their authors out of France and around the world. Her creativity and motivation meant that she became a key figure in the growth of translated comics from across the world.
Even better, these are merely the English iteration of the Sophie Castille awards. Since the Award was launched in the UK last year, other countries have launched their own versions, most recently with Comic Barcelona announcing their own nominees for the Spanish SCA. In Italy, Napoli Comicon will announce the winner of their awards later this month. In Poland, the Lodz Comics Festival will host their inaugural awards at their annual event in early September, and an awards programme will also be announced soon for publishers in Slovenia, in partnership with Tinta Festival Slovenia.
Translator Michele Hutchison was announced as the winner of the inaugural Awards at last year’s Festival, for her translation of The Philosopher, The Dog and the Wedding by Barbara Stok, published in English by SelfMadeHero – now LICAF is inviting international publishers to submit their translated works for consideration.
The UK jury will again be comprised of three judges: Karen Green, Curator for Comics and Cartoons, Columbia University’s Rare Book & Manuscript Library; comic creator and former British Comics Laurate, Charlie Adlard, who has been an advocate for the translation of world comics into English for many years; and former TV producer, Peter Kessler MBE, Chair of The Lakes International Comic Art Festival.
“The Sophie Castille Awards are global awards to recognise the work of translators in the medium as well as to highlight the importance of the work of translation in the world of comics, recognising the skill and dedication of those who contribute significantly to the dissemination and understanding of comics around the world which was very important to Sophie Castille.” – Ivanka Hahnenberger, General Manager of VIP Brands,
This year’s Sophie Castille Award – English prize will be awarded at the Lakes International Festival in Bowness-on-Windermere over its Festival weekend, 28th – 29th September 2024.
The Entry Form and full submission guidelines for this year’s Sophie Castille Award can be downloaded from the Lakes International Comic Art Festival web site – submissions should be made no later than 12th June, 2024.