The Stripschapprijs, the only oeuvre prize for comics artists in the Netherlands, goes this year to the Rotterdam comics maker and animator Aimée de Jongh (1988). After the release of her international bestseller Days of sand, last year, she shot up like a comet. She has already won eight major international awards with her graphic novel about the Dust Bowl, the American climatic catastrophe of the 1930s. She has been honored in Japan, the United States and especially in France.
Days of sand is also a great success in Dutch bookshops: 11 thousand copies have now been sold and a fourth printing is on the way. Her French success is many times greater with more than 40 thousand copies sold. The comic has now been translated into nine languages.
The ten-member jury, this year with three women in the ranks for the first time, had no trouble justifying the choice. Since she was fifteen, Aimée de Jongh has been labeled as a rising star, “a pressure that she not only manages to park neatly, but also lives up to it every time”. According to the jury, De Jongh knows ‘like no other (…) how to use her quality and skill to take the comics medium to a higher level. As one of the few Dutch comic book makers, she knows that publicity is just as important as delivering high-quality work. She can call herself a real ambassador of Dutch comics.”
Agile own style
De Jongh’s success can be explained by the fact that her drawing style is a clever mixture of manga and the traditional Franco-Belgian school (think of Spirou), with a bit of realism. It allows her to easily switch between, for example, her youth strip Smart Pimher journalistic comic work for NRC about the refugee camp on Lesvos and graphic novels like het Blossoms in the fall (2018) and the beautiful, autobiographical Cab (2019).
Equally important is her substantive preference for social themes, such as the climate crisis in Days of sand and bullying behavior in the comics project Dark early†
Her production is huge. In addition to the albums that appear in quick succession, she also regularly draws for Vrij Nederland and is a much sought-after animator. In that capacity she worked for years for The world goes on and she was on the production team of the animated film Undoneby the Dutch animator/filmmaker Hisko Hulsing.
The Stripschapprijs has been awarded annually since 1974 by Het Stripschap, the Dutch interest group for the cartoon. No monetary amount is attached to the prize; the winners receive a bronze sculpture and a certificate. Last year the honor went to Elsiecomics maker Gerben Valkema, before that the prize was awarded to, among others, Typex, Wasco, Peter van Dongen and Joost Swarte. After Maaike Hartjes and Barbara Stok, De Jongh is the third female author to receive the prize.