The ToonSeum, Pittsburgh's museum of cartoon art, is proud to
announce that cartoonist Dick Locher has been awarded the ToonSeum's
Nemo Award for outstanding contributions to the cartoon arts. The
presentation took place at Chicago's Comic Con and Entertainment Expo
(C2E2) on March 20, 2011. Rob Rogers, board president of the
ToonSeum, presented Locher with the Nemo Award.
"The ToonSeum is proud to recognize Dick Locher for his outstanding
contributions in the field of editorial cartooning, including the
Locher Award, created to identify and encourage young editorial
cartoonists," said Rogers as he handed Locher the trophy, "and for
his tireless and brilliant dedication to keeping the spirit of Dick
Tracy fresh and alive in the daily comics pages."
Locher, a former Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist for the
Chicago Tribune and artist/writer for Dick Tracy, was a featured
panelist at the convention. The panel, called "Drawing Fire:
Editorial Cartooning in a Partisan Age," also featured Scott Stantis
of the Chicago Tribune, Bruce Plante of the Tulsa World and Rob
Rogers of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Rogers also moderated the panel.
Dick Locher was born in Dubuque, Iowa in 1929. He studied art at the
University of Iowa and the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. In 1957,
after a stint in the Air Force, Locher became the assistant to
Chester Gould, creator of Dick Tracy. He worked on the comic strip
until 1961 and then left to start his own commercial art business. In
1972, Gould recommended Locher for the editorial cartoonist position
at the Chicago Tribune. Despite having no experience in editorial
cartooning, Locher impressed the editors enough to land the job.
In 1983, the same year he won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial
cartooning, Locher returned to the Dick Tracy comic strip, this time
working with his son, John. In 1986, at the age of 25, John died
suddenly. With help from his fellow cartoonists in the American
Association of Editorial Cartoonists (AAEC), Locher founded the John
Locher Memorial Award contest. This contest not only honors the
memory of Locher's son, but also helps discover and encourage
aspiring cartoonists. Since its inception, more than 25 outstanding
young cartoonists have won the competition. Most have gone on to
excel in their profession and one, Steve Breen, has won the Pulitzer
Prize twice.
In April 2010, the City of Naperville, Illinois, dedicated a 9-foot,
one-ton sculpture of Dick Tracy to honor Dick Locher for his many
contributions to Naperville and for being the creative force behind
the Dick Tracy strip for 35 years. In February 2011, Locher announced
his retirement from writing and drawing Dick Tracy.
Joe Wos, founder and executive director of the ToonSeum, describes
the Nemo Award as more than just a lifetime achievement award. "The
Nemo was created to recognize all aspects of a cartoonist's career,
not just the stack of originals, but also his or her devotion to and
celebration of the art form. Dick Locher has had an immense impact on
the field of cartooning and he deserves to be championed. We are
proud to honor him in this way."
This is the ToonSeum's third Nemo Award. Previous recipients have been
Morrie Turner, creator of Wee Pals, and Ron Frenz, legendary Marvel and
D.C. comic book artist.
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