There are some interesting Scholarships Grants from the NCS that are worth a look for future college students. These student awards are niche to those future cartoon artist who are looking to catapult there lives to a higher level very quickly by winning this student award. This is a nice award for students to put on their resume’.
But who is the The National Cartoonists Society and their Foundation?
The NCSF is the charitable wing of the National Cartoonists Society who happens to be the most prominent grouping of professional cartoonists in the world.
Simply put the NCS is the 800 pound gorilla in this industry with no equal!
The NCSF was founded in 2005 for the purpose of putting lots of emphasis on charitable works and mostly supporting educational activities.
The National Cartoonists Society has over 500 of the world’s top cartoonists working in professions of all types such as magazines, greeting cards, comic books, newspapers, advertising and many others as well.
Membership in this esteemed club is limited to those who are well-established cartoonists. The NCS is neither a union or a guild.
The underlying ambition of the NCS is three-fold:
To advance the ideals and standards of professional cartooning in its many forms; to promote and foster a social, cultural and intellectual interchange among professional cartoonists of all types, and to stimulate and encourage interest in and acceptance of the art of cartooning by aspiring cartoonists, students and the general public.
The NCSF Scholarships Grants
The NCSF student award is called the Jay Kennedy Scholarship, which is in memory of the late King Features editor who drowned unexpectedly while vacationing. He was the cartoon editor for Esquire magazine from 1983-1988. He wrote numerous articles on cartooning and also wrote for the magazines of New Age Journal, Heavy Metal, New York, The IGA Journal, & Escape.He also authored the “The Underground Comic’s Guide” – 1982.
Needless to say he was a cartoon guru whose fascination of comics was almost legendary in itself. He believed that comic’s; or cartooning was one of the best forms of communication in the world. His belief was everyone could understand the art-form of cartoons; as opposed to the fine arts where only the few could fully appreciate what they saw.
The NCSF scholarships started with an initial donation grant of $100,000 from the Hearst Foundation/King Features Syndicate, and continued to receive other large donations from other outstanding cartoonist along the way.
To apply to the NCS scholarships & grants students must be attending a 4-year university in the US, Canada or Mexico and be a junior status. Applicants do not have to be art students to apply either.
Applicants are required to submit 8 samples of their own cartoon art work.
The samples are judged by a team of top cartoonists. The college students with the best selected artwork will be given scholarships and grants.
NCSF will decide if there are multiple winners, and also the amounts will vary, all at the discretion of the NCSF panel of esteemed cartoonists. So this means that there may be many awards given out; or just one.
Deadline for submissions is December 15th.
To apply for the NCSF Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship you can go to the NCSF website to download the application for submission and send to:
Student would send their completed form and 8 examples of your own cartooning artwork. Put ALL examples onto a CD AND print out paper copies – no originals.
THE JAY KENNEDY MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP
National Cartoonists Society Foundation
PO Box 592927
Orlando FL 32859-292
