The National Cartoonists Society Foundation (NCSF) is happy to announce the winner of the 2018 Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship – Zi Chen.
Zi is an Animation major at the Sheridan College in Ontario, Canada. She was chosen from over 140 applicants for the award, which includes a $5,000 scholarship and a trip to the National Cartoonists Society’s Reuben Award Weekend in Philadelphia, PA in May.
Zi said that “cartooning allows me to capture the essence of people that I find so fascinating.” Her passion project is an upcoming comic called “Ramshackle”, which follows the misadventures of three homeless kids on the streets of a crime-ridden town. Zi was a character designer for “Lobo,” a Japanese animated feature, as well as a storyboard artist on an animated YouTube pilot called “Hazbin Hotel.”
The Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship is an annual award established in memory of Jay Kennedy, the late King Features comics editor, from an initial grant from the Hearst Foundation/King Features Syndicate and additional generous donations from other prominent cartoonists. It is administered by the National Cartoonists Society Foundation. The applicants submitted eight examples of their work along with an entry form that included short essays on their current and future plans in cartooning. Entries were judged by a jury of professional cartoonists who are members of the National Cartoonists Society Foundation. The scholarship is awarded to a college student in the United States, Canada or Mexico who will be in their Junior or Senior year of college during the following academic year.
