richard gaitet

Angoulême Festival Faces Criticism Over Fake Awards
Angoulême Festival Faces Criticism Over Fake Awards
Angoulême Festival Faces Criticism Over Fake Awards
The Angoulême International Comics Festival, once one of the most respected comic convention in the world, faces criticism for issuing a series of fake awards at its 2016 ceremony this past weekend. The festival, which dates back to 1974, already came under fire earlier in the year when the longlist for the Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême lifetime achievement award contained zero women in its thirty person longlist. Angoulême’s response to the earlier criticism was to do away with the longlist and open up voting to any creator that voters thought deserving of the award, but the presentation ceremony brought fresh controversy. Apparently in an attempt at humour, the festival announced a list of winners, and then in a scene straight from a bad high school comedy, declared it was all a prank, and announced the “real” winners.