THE MAHMOUD KAHIL AWARD
The Mahmoud Kahil Award is an award program under the Rada and Mutaz Sawaf Center for Arab Comics Studies at the American University of Beirut. The award aims to promote comics, editorial cartoons and illustration in the Arab world through the recognition of the rich talent and creative achievement of comics artists, cartoonists, and illustrators in the region.
This program was established at AUB in 2014 upon the initiative of Mr. Mutaz Sawaf to honor and perpetuate the legacy of the late Mahmoud Kahil, one of the leading cartoonists and caricaturists of the Arab World, and a former AUB graduate.
The finalists in the various categories of the award are chosen by a select panel of international and regional jury members who are invited to view the work and select the final winners, who are celebrated during an annual award ceremony in Beirut, along with the launch of the annual award book and exhibition.
The Center’s first call for submissions was launched in early 2015, receiving an overwhelming number of artworks from approximately 300 artists and 11 Arab nations, moving up to 16 countries by the 4th year.
The diverse range of submitted artworks, and the professional caliber retained over the past few years is exemplary of the immensely rich talent in the region, and the qualified artists working in the field.
Artists from Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Algeria, Iraq, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen, Sudan, UAE & Lebanon have participated throughout the past 5 years.
THE RADE & MUTAZ SAWAF CENTER FOR ARAB COMICS STUDIES at AUB
The Rada and Mutaz Sawaf Center for Arab Comics Studies at the American University of Beirut is an academic body that acts as a hub for the critical study of Comics art from the Arab World. The Center, uniquely positioned in Beirut, aims to promote the research, teaching, and production of this artform, while building a collection of archival and contemporary Arab comics, in order to preserve its heritage, and embrace this medium and its canons as an integral feature of contemporary Arab art, while aspiring to place it on a global stage. Established in November 2022 and inaugurated in April 2023, the Center was made possible through a $5 million irrevocable trust, generously donated by AUB alumnus and trustee Mutaz Sawaf (BArch ’74) and his wife Rada Sawaf, that will provide perpetual financial support for the center.
As part of its mission, the center will continue to organize the prestigious annual pan-Arab Mahmoud Kahil Award ceremony, award book and exhibition, honoring, promoting and showcasing talents from the region to a wide audience. The Center also organizes an annual thematic Comics symposium, curated exhibitions, course on comics, workshops, lectures and master classes by leading regional and international comics artists. The Center additionally aims to publish referential resources, monographs, comics anthologies, and supporting historical and analytical studies and documentation of past and present comics in the Arab world, while aiming to facilitate outreach, collaboration and networking with other centers, cultural institutions, regional Comics platforms, and practicing artists of the Arab world.
Categories & Prizes
Artists from the entire Arab world including; Algeria, Bahrain, the Comoros Islands, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen are eligible and encouraged to submit their published work in one of these categories:
Editorial Cartoons
$10,000
Also known as political cartoons, is an illustration containing a commentary that usually relates to current events or personalities contain some level of political or social commentary
Graphic Novel
$10,000
A complete visual narrative of over 30 pages at the very least
Comics
$5,000
Includes all forms of comics or visual narratives from comic strips to one page comics, up to 20 pages
Graphic Illustration
$5,000
Includes all forms of Editorial illustrations, infographics, or book illustrations geared to an adult audience
Children′s Book Illustration
$5,000
Illustrations for children’s books
Additionally, Two Honorary Awards selected by the jury are announced every year:
The Lifetime Achievement Award
Recognizing an artist with outstanding dedication and service of over 25 years in the fields of Comics, illustration or cartoons in the region.
The Comics Guardian Award
Recognizing those who have extensively supported comics and cartoons in the Arab world through preserving, collecting, promoting, publishing, teaching or exhibiting this Art, and thereby contributing to the cultural heritage of the region.
Candidates for this award may be:
// Comics Festivals and festival founders
// Comics Publishers
// Comics Collectors
// Online Comics portals
// Comics Collectors
// Comics Awards programs
// Educators that have initiated programs on comics teachings and workshops, or have taught comics
// Arab Comics Historiographers
// Exhibitions
// Galleries who have hosted or sold comics artists
Advisory Board Members
Current
Mutaz Sawaf
Founder & Renowned Businessman
2014 – Current
Mutaz Sawaf is an AUB trustee since 2014. He graduated from AUB ‘74 with a degree in Architectural Engineering, and successfully achieved an extensive network of both private and public projects in the Middle East, and the Gulf. He is a comics connoisseur and an accomplished illustrator as well as an avid collector of comics. Sawaf established the company “Tosh Fesh” with the aim of encouraging young Arab artists by publishing their works and gaining exposure in the Arab world.
Lina Ghaibeh
Associate Professor & Director of the Initiative
2014 – Current
Director of the Rada & Mutaz Sawaf Center for Arab Comics Studies at AUB, coordinator of the graphic design program and associate professor at the department of Architecture & Design at AUB. She is a practicing animation and comics artist and her work has been screened and exhibited at several international film festivals and comics Salons. Her research area focuses on Comics in the Arab world as part of contemporary Arab Culture.
Habib Haddad
Lebanese Cartoonist & Illustrator
2017 – Current
Renowned and widely published Lebanese cartoonist and illustrator. He participated in several diverse exhibitions, both national and international, and has published two collections of his own cartoon work. For the past 3 decades, Haddad has been drawing caricatures and cartoons as the editorial cartoonist for the Lebanese newspaper Al-Hayat in Paris.
George Khoury [Jad]
Comics Artist & Critic
2017 – Current
Renowned Lebanese comics artist and critic. He has published several comic albums as well as comics series in daily newspapers since the 1980s, which have received several awards, and authored several articles and essays on the history of comics in the Arab world. He has been head of the Animation Department at Future Television since its launch in 1993, and teaches at the Lebanese American University in Beirut.
Emad Hajjaj
Cartoonist
2017 – Current
Jordanian cartoonist well known as Abu Mahjoob ,He is one of the most famous cartoonists in the Arab world and has extensive experience in many Arabic and international newspapers and websites. He has published many books , most notably his cartoon collection book Al-Mahjoob in two parts. Emad received many awards and is considered also as one of the pioneering digital painters in the Arabic region. He has produced animated films and many satirical content prepared for social networking platforms. He heads the Society of Cartoonists in Jordan and is a member of several cartoon societies.
Dana Kahil Trometer
Mahmoud Kahil’s Daughter | Digital Content Creator
2017 – Current
Lebanese – French filmmaker based in the UK and co-partner at Burst. Agency. She started her film career as a film editor in 1996 and moved to producing and directing in 2007. She has worked across all genres (features, documentaries, advertising, corporate) and for some of the biggest names and brands in the business (BBC, ITV, Channel 4, PBS). Dana is Mahmoud Kahil’s daughter and is passionate in keeping her father’s legacy alive. She has been documenting her search for Kahil’s artwork since 2003. She goes by three words only: “everything is possible”.
Previous
Jihad El Khazen
Journalist & Writer
2014 – 2017
George Bahgoory
Artist & Political Cartoonist
2014 – 2017
Leila Musfy
Professor at the American University of AUB
2014 – 2017
Nazmi Kahil
Mahmoud Kahil’s Son
Digital Product Management | UXD
2014 – 2017
Abdullah El Sayel
Cartoonist & Editor
2014 – 2015