Yellow Kid Award

The Yellow Kid Awards (Italian: Premio Yellow Kid) are comic book awards presented in Italy from 1970 to 1992^[a] 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.^[1]

Yellow Kid Award
Awarded for	Achievements in the field of comics and animation
Location	1970–1992: Salone Internazionale dei Comics (Lucca) 1994–2005: Salone Internazionale dei Comics/Expocartoon (Rome)
Country	Italy
Formerly called	Silver Plaque (1966) Golden Guinigi Tower (1967) Grand Guinigi (1969)
First award	1970

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).^[2]

The following year, 1967, the festival organized the award ceremony through an international jury.^[3] 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").^[3] That year, the festival also awarded six prizes to Gian Luigi Bonelli, Cesare Zavattini, Rino Albertarelli, Benito Jacovitti, Mario Gentilini, and Alpe Editions,^[3] 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.^[4]

The awarding of prizes at Lucca resumed in 1969, this time under the name Grand Guinigi.^[5] An encouragement prize and a criticism prize were also introduced.^[5]

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.^[1] 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.^{[citation needed]}

Lucca Comics Awards

In 2020, as the Lucca festival redubbed itself Lucca Changes amidst a shift to virtual programming during the COVID-19 pandemic,^[6] 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".^[7]

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[b]
1967[b]	Copi[c]	Golden Guinigi Tower for Artist
	Guido Crepax[d]	Golden Guinigi Tower for Writer
1969[5]	Pier Carpi[e]	Grand Guinigi for Writer
	Michele Gazzarri[e]
	Hugo Pratt[f]	Grand Guinigi for Artist
1970[1]	Dino Battaglia	Cartoonist
	Alfredo Castelli	Writer
1971[8]	Gianni De Luca	Artist
	Mino Milani	Writer
1972[9]	Guido Crepax	Cartoonist
	Grazia Nidasio	Artist
1973[10]	Guido Buzzelli	Cartoonist
	Lino Landolfi	Artist
1974[11]	Bonvi	Cartoonist
	Emanuele Pirella [it]	Writer
	Tullio Pericoli [it]	Artist
1975[12]	Massimo Mattioli	Cartoonist
	Sergio Toppi	Artist
1976[13]	Altan	Cartoonist
	Giuseppe Madaudo [it]	Artist
1978[14]	Cinzia Ghigliano  [it]	Cartoonist
	Milo Manara[15]	Artist
1980[16]	Daniele Panebarco	Cartoonist
	Attilio Micheluzzi	Artist
	Cristina Lastrego and Francesco Testa	Caran-d'Ache for Illustration
1982[17]	Vittorio Giardino	Cartoonist
	Paolo Eleuteri Serpieri	Artist
	Giovanni Mulazzani	Caran-d'Ache for Illustration
1984[18]	Sergio Staino	Cartoonist
	Anna Brandoli	Artist
	Alarico Gattia	Caran-d'Ache for Illustration
1986[19]	Roberto Dal Prà  [it]	Cartoonist
	Franco Saudelli	Artist
	Fabrizio del Tessa	Caran-d'Ache for Illustration
1990[20]	Tiziano Sclavi	Cartoonist
	Massimo Rotundo	Artist
	Flavio Costantini	Caran-d'Ache for Illustration
1992[21]	Giorgio Cavazzano	Cartoonist
	Giancarlo Alessandrini	Artist
	Riccardo Mannelli	Caran-d'Ache for Illustration

Foreign/international division

Year	Winner	Country	Prize[b]
1967[3]	Jules Feiffer[g]	USA	Cartoonist (Golden Guinigi Tower)
1969[5]	Robert Gigi[h]	FRA	Artist (Grand Guinigi)
	Reg Smythe[i]	GBR	Cartoonist (Grand Guinigi)
	Robert Crumb	USA	Honorable Mention
	Enric Sió [es]	ESP
1970[1]	Johnny Hart[22]	USA	Cartoonist
1971[8]	Lee Falk	USA	Cartoonist
	Enric Sió [es]	ESP	Artist
1972[9]	Nikita Mandryka	FRA	Cartoonist
	Brant Parker	USA	Artist
1973[10]	Fred	FRA	Cartoonist
	Eduardo Teixeira Coelho	BRA	Artist
	Alberto Breccia	ARG	Special jury prize
1974[11]	Vaughn Bodē	USA	Cartoonist
	Antonio Hernández Palacios [es]	ESP	Writer or cartoonist
	Roy Crane	USA	Special jury prize
1975[12]	Dan O'Neill[j]	USA	Cartoonist
	Jean Giraud	FRA	Artist
	Frank Hampson	GBR	Special jury prize[k]
1976[13]	Jeff Jones	USA	Cartoonist
	Enki Bilal	FRA	Artist
	Rius	MEX	UNICEF comics plaque[l]
1978[14]	Harry North	GBR	Cartoonist
	Carlos Trillo	ARG	Artist
	Bobby London	USA	Special jury prize
	Karel Thole	NED	Caran-d'Ache for illustration
	Oscar Conti	ARG	UNICEF comics plaque[l]
1980[16]	Mœbius	FRA	Cartoonist
	Comès	BEL	Artist
	Ferenc Pinter	HUN[m]	Caran-d'Ache for a Master of Illustration
	Hector Oesterheld	ARG	UNICEF comics plaque[l]
1982[17]	Art Spiegelman	USA	Cartoonist
	José Antonio Muñoz	ARG	Artist
	Howard Chaykin	USA	Caran-d'Ache for illustration
1984[18]	Jaime Hernandez[24]		Cartoonist
	Gilbert Hernandez[24]
	Mario Hernandez[24]
	François Bourgeon	FRA	Artist
	Guillermo Mordillo	ARG	Special jury prize
	Manuel Sanjuliàn	ESP	Caran-d'Ache for illustration
1986[19]	Horacio Altuna	ARG	Cartoonist
	Serge Le Tendre	FRA	Artist
	Bill Sienkiewicz	USA	Special jury prize[n]
	Oscar Chichoni	ARG	Caran d'Ache for illustration
	Lorenzo Mattotti	ARG	Special jury prize
	Paul Gillon	FRA	Special jury prize
1990[20]	Kent Williams	USA	Cartoonist
	Matthias Schultheiss	GER	artist
	Juan Giménez	ESP
	John Bolton	GBR	Caran-d'Ache for illustration
1992[21]	François Boucq[26]	FRA	Cartoonist
	John Byrne[26]	USA	Artist
	Frank Thomas[26]		Special jury prize
	Ollie Johnston[26]
	Dave McKean	GBR	Caran-d'Ache for illustration
	David Caméo	FRA	Plaque Œsterheld[o]

Rome era (1994–2005)

Year	Authors
1994	Giovan Battista Carpi ( ITA), Greg ( BEL), Jim Lee ( USA), Claudio Nizzi ( ITA), James O'Barr ( USA), Pino Rinaldi ( ITA)
1995	Giancarlo Berardi ( ITA), Jordi Bernet ( ESP), Claudio Castellini ( ITA), Fred ( FRA), Neil Gaiman[27] ( GBR), Rodolfo Torti ( ITA), Jim Valentino ( USA)
1996	Mark Bagley ( USA), Luciano Bottaro ( ITA), Alfredo Castelli ( ITA), Carlo Chendi ( ITA), Will Eisner ( USA), Alfonso Font ( ESP), Scott McCloud ( USA), Bill Watterson ( USA), Robin Wood ( PAR)
1997	Scott Adams ( USA); John Dirks ( USA); Philippe Druillet ( FRA); Michele Medda, Antonio Serra, and Bepi Vigna [it] ( ITA); Giuseppe Palumbo ( ITA); Alberto Salinas ( ARG)
1998	Paul Gillon ( FRA), Alejandro Jodorowsky ( CHI), Cinzia Leone ( ITA), Bob Lubbers ( USA), Nicola Mari ( ITA), Jeff Smith[28] ( USA)
1999	Luca Enoch ( ITA), Gallieno Ferri ( ITA), Jean Giraud ( FRA), Carlos Gómez ( ARG), Miguel Ángel Martín ( ESP), Vanna Vinci ( ITA)
2000	Carlo Ambrosini ( ITA), David Finch ( USA), Miguelanxo Prado ( ESP), Silvia Ziche ( ITA), Sergio Zaniboni ( ITA)
2001	Massimiliano Frezzato ( ITA), Corrado Mastantuono ( ITA), Ferdinando Tacconi ( ITA)
2002	Carlos Giménez ( ESP), Eduardo Risso ( ARG), Joann Sfar ( FRA)
2003	Paolo Bacilieri ( ITA), Pat Masioni ( COD), Sid Ali Melouah ( ALG)
2005	Lola Airaghi ( ITA), Horacio Altuna ( ARG), Simone Bianchi ( ITA), Gilles Chaillet ( FRA)

Publishers, journals, organizations

Year	Winner	Country	Reason for the Award	Prize
1967[3]	Mondadori Editore	ITA	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[5]	Orietta Garzanti		Its edition of Little Nemo	Italian publisher (Grand Guinigi)
	Robert Cottereau	FRA	Lifetime achievement	Foreign publisher (Grand Guinigi)
	Claudio Bertieri	ITA	AZ Comics (EK)	Critics Prize[p]
1970[1]	Mondadori	ITA	Oscar Cartoons	Italian publisher (periodical)
	Bompiani		Mafalda	Italian publisher (book)
	Georges Rieu  [fr]	FRA	Pif Gadget	Foreign publisher
	André Leborgne	BEL	Ran Tan Plan	Honorable mention
	Sansoni	ITA	Enciclopedia dei fumetti
	Club Anni Trenta		Its chronological reissues
1971[8]	Laterza		I fumetti di Mao	Italian book publisher
	Sansoni		Horror	Italian periodical publisher
	Abril	BRA		Foreign publisher
	Joël la Roche	FRA	Corto Maltese	Honorable mention
1972[9]	Mondadori	ITA		Italian book publisher
	Editions Lombard	FRA	Tintin magazine	Foreign publisher
	Walter Herdeg	SUI	Comics (direction)	Critics Prize[p]
	David Pascal	USA
1973[10]	Dardo [it]	ITA	Its edition of Nick Carter by Bonvi	Italian publisher
	Springer	RFA	Zack [de]	Foreign publisher
1974[11]	Daim Press	ITA	Its collection of « I Protagonisti »	Italian publisher
	Pala	ESP	All of its activities	Foreign publisher
	Henri Filippini	FRA	Their volume of tribute to Alain Saint-Ogan	Honorary Yellow Kid
	Maurizio Bovarini	ITA
1975[12]	Cenisio	ITA		Italian publisher
	Glénat	FRA		Foreign publisher
	Istituto Nazionale per la Documentazione sull'Immagine	ITA	Exhibition "No al fascismo!"	Honorable mention
1976[13]	Daim Press		The collection Un uomo un'avventura	Italian publisher
	Ediciones Amaika [es]	ESP	El Papus	Foreign publisher
	Alcidio da Quinta	BRA	Simplex	UNICEF plaque for animated film[l]
	André Leborgne	BEL	Ran Tan Plan	Honorable mention
1978[14]	Ottaviano [it]	ITA	The totality of its activities	Italian publisher
	Casterman	BEL	À Suivre	Foreign publisher
1980[16]	Editiemme	ITA		Italian publisher
	Epic Illustrated	USA		Foreign publisher
1982[17]	Primo Carnera [it]	ITA	Frigidaire	Italian publisher
	Éditions Horay	FRA		French publisher
	Algerian Comic Strip School	ALG		UNICEF comics plaque
1984[18]	L'Isole trovata	ITA		Italian publisher
	Strip Art Features	YUG		Foreign publisher
	Editoria Basca	ESP		UNICEF comics plaque
	Editori del Grifo	ITA	Glamour International	Special Plaque
1986[19]	Paoline [it]	ITA		Italian publisher
	Aedena	FRA		Foreign publisher
	Ikusager [es]	ESP		Plaque Hector Œesterheld[o]
1990[20]	Sergio Bonelli Editore	ITA		Italian publisher
	El Víbora	ESP		Foreign publisher
	Henri Filippini	FRA		Yellow Kid awarded by the jury
	Carlsen	GER		Plaque Hector Œsterheld[o]
1992[21]	Franco Cosimo Panini [it]	ITA		Italian publisher
	Tundra Publishing	USA		Foreign publisher

Rome era (1994–2005)

Year	Award-recipient(s)
1994	Astorina (Italy), Casterman (France)
1995	DC Comics (United States), Eura Editoriale (Italy)
1996	Bonelli (Italy), Dargaud (France)
1997	Oreste Del Buono (Italy), Raw (United States), Edizioni d'Arte Lo Scarabeo (Italy)
1998	Lizard Edizioni (Italy), Dark Horse Comics (United States)
1999	Hazard Edizioni (Italy), El Víbora (Spain)
2000	L'Association (France), Macchia Nera (Italy), Mare Nero (Italy), Lanciostory (Italy)
2001	Kappa Edizioni (Italy)
2002	Coconino Press (Italy), El Jueves (Spain)
2003	Pascal 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.

Year	Winner(s)	Award-winning work	Prize
1973[10]	Emanuele Luzzati	Pulcinella	Critics' Referendum Prize
	Giulio Gianini
1974[11]	Bruno Bozzetto	Self-Service
1975[12]	NOT AWARDED
1976[13]	Bruno Bozzetto	Allegro non troppo	Critics' Referendum Prize
1978[14]	Roberto Perini, Enzo Sferra, and Alighiero Giuseppetti	Upupa	Critics' Referendum Prize Short Film division
	Giulio Gianini	Il flauto magico	Critics' Referendum Prize Feature Film division
	Emanuele Luzzati
1980[16]	Guido Manuli	S.O.S.	Critics' Referendum Prize
1982[17]	La Figura	I Grandi Film in Due Minuti	Critics' Prize
1984[18]	Fusako Yusaki [it]	Ama gli animali	Lucca City Grand Prize
1986[19]	Vincenzo Gioanola	Russian roulette	Lucca City Grand Prize for an Emerging Artist
1990[20]	Gianluigi Toccafondo	La Coda
1992[21]	Simona Mulazzani	La Pista	Lucca City Grand Prize

Fantoche Prize (1973-1982)

This prize, presented by accredited journalists present at the festival, rewarded Italian critical work devoted to animation.

Year	Winner	Award-winning work	Publisher
1973[10]	Piero Zanotto	L'Italia di cartone and other works	Liviana
1974[11]	Attilio Giovannini
1975[12]	Gianni Rondolino	Storia del Cinema d'Animazione	Einaudi
1976[13]	Sergio Michelli	Cinema di animazione in Bulgaria	Cappelli
1978[14]	Giannalberto Bendazzi	Topolino e poi	Il Formichiere
1980[16]	NOT AWARDED
1982[17]	Alfio Bastiancich	L'Opera di Norman McLaren	Giappichelli

Fantoche Prize (1984-92)

In 1984, the Fantoche Prize was extensively renewed. Now awarded by the same jury as the Grand Prize, it rewarded audiovisual or cinematographic works and was divided into several categories.

Year	Winner	Work	Category
1984[18]	Manfredo Manfredi [it]	Orson Welles, genio del cinema	TV Show
	Bruno Bozzetto	Sigmund	Advertising Spot
	Cairoli Elementary School (Turin)	L'importante è partecipare	Educational or Documentary Film
	Fusako Yusaki [it]	Ama gli animali	Free Subject Movie
1986[19]	San Giacomo Elementary School (Turin)	Sueno e colore	Film Produced by an Educational Institution
	Piero Mazzoni	Firenze-Europa	Film Trailer
	Filippo Fantoni
	Enzo D'Alò	Se fumi tu, fumano tutti	Documentary or Scientific Film
	Enrico Carlesi
	Fusako Yusaki [it]	Rotondo, quadrato, triangolo	Feature Film
1990[20]	Bruno Caccia Elementary School (Turin) and the Magic Lantern	Fumosofia	Film Produced by an Educational Institution
	Ernesto Paginoni	San Pellegrino Aranciat	Advertising or Promotional Film
	Antonella Abbatiello	Magic Circus	Documentary or Scientific Film
	Guido Manuli	+ 1-1	Feature Film
	Laura Di Biagio	Race Timed Out	Video
1992[21]	Students of the Istituto Europeo di Design (Milan)	Attenda, prego	Film School Film
	Gianluigi Toccafondo	Media Salles, Cinema d'Europa	Advertising, Promotional or Support film
	NOT AWARDED		Documentary or Scientific Film
	Maurizio Forestieri, Ferro Piludu, Lucilla Salimei, and Fabio Testa	Tiramolla e il cacciatore	Feature Film
	Luca Prassa and Oscara Tornincasa	Creeps!!! The Authorized Version 1992	Video

Other prizes

Yellow Kid "A Life Devoted to Cartoons"

This prize, given by the festival organizers, rewards a cartoonist or animator for their career work.^[9]

Year	Winner	Country	Role
1972[9]	Hergé	BEL	Cartoonist
1973[10]	Walt Disney Productions	USA	Animation studio
1974[11]	Lotario Vecchi [it]	ITA	Cartoonist
1975[12]	Adolfo Eisen	BRA	Comics publisher
1976[13]	José Luis Salinas  [es]	ARG	Cartoonist
1978[14]	Milton Caniff	USA
1980[16]	Arturo del Castillo	ARG
1982[17]	Jesús Blasco	ESP
1984[18]	Lee Falk	USA
1986[19]	Will Eisner
1990[20]	Romano Scarpa	ITA
1992[21]	Benito Jacovitti

Starting in 1982, the festival began also awarding a special Caran-d'Ache prize for "A Life of Illustration".

Year	Winner	Country
1982[17]	Francesco Carnevali  [it]	ITA
1984[18]	Burne Hogarth	USA
1986[19]	Jayme Cortez	BRA
1990[20]	Ziraldo
1992[21]	Sergio Toppi	ITA

Audience Award

Year	Winner	Country	Division
1974[11]	Rino Albertarelli	Italy	Cartoonist
1978[14]	Scuola del Fumetto di Lucca		Comics school
1980[16]	Héctor Oesterheld	Argentina	Posthumous Writing Award
1982[17]	Wow Agenda Planning 1983	Italy	Publication
1984[18]	Alarico Gattia		Illustrator
1986[19]	Edizioni Glamour International		Publishing house
1990[20]	NOT AWARDED
1992[21]	Sciuscià (Edizioni di Miceli)	Italy	Re-release

In 1990, the festival management also presented the Max Prize for Cartoon Cinema to the Deutsches Filmmuseum in Frankfurt am Main.^[20] Two years later, this prize was awarded to the Cineteca del Friuli (it).^[21]

Romano Calisi Prize

Awarded from 1984 to 1992, this prize recognized Italian academic work devoted to comics. It was awarded by a specific jury.

Year	Winner	Work
1984[18]	Arianna Pregagnoli	Flash Gordon: la concettualizzazione del 'diverso' attraverso il fumetto americano (1930-1940) (1982-1983)
	Elena Furin	I fumetti di Frigidaire (1983-1984)
1986[19]	Francesca Camera	Alexandre Alexeieff e la cinègravure (1985-1986)
	Marco Cadioli	Tecniche di computer animation (1985-1986)
1990[20]	Sonia Maria Bibe Luyten	Potere e diffusione dei fumetti giapponesi quale riflesso della società nipponica (1987-88)
	Alessandra Buniva	Fumetto: variazioni e varianti (1989-90)
1992[21]	Gianni Albanese	L'uomo africano nei fumetti dell'Italia coloniale fascista

Notes

1. Beginning in 1978, funding issues reduced the frequency of the festival — and thus the frequency of the Yellow Kid Awards — to every two years.
2. Unless otherwise specified in parentheses, these prizes are named "Yellow Kid".
3. "For its rigorous style and its rebellious irony."
4. "For his research linked to the most significant ferments of contemporary visual culture."
5. "For his activities in 1968."
6. For The Ballad of the Salty Sea.
7. "For his provocative proposal of a discourse on the current condition of man."
8. For Scarlett Dream and Orion.
9. For the creation of Andy Capp.
10. For The Penny-Ante Republican.^[23]
11. Hampson was declared "Prestigioso Maestro" ("Prestigious Master") and the best writer and artist of strip cartoons since the end of the Second World War.^{[citation needed]}
12. Prize awarded by the jury on the occasion of a partnership with UNICEF to reward humanitarian works.
13. Pinter had been living in Italy since 1956.
14. For "bridging the gap between American and European artistic sensibilities."^[25]
15. This award, which follows the UNICEF plaque awarded from 1976 to 1984, rewards a work or entity promoting understanding between peoples.
16. Presented by accredited journalists present at the festival.