Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 18, 1994 TAG: 9405180080
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-6 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: OAKTON LENGTH: Medium
The strip about a social misfit is drawn by Bud Grace, a former physicist who said he began drawing about a decade ago.
"I had a midlife crisis. ... I thought there must be something else out there that would be a little more fun," Grace said Tuesday.
Grace accepted the award at the society's annual ceremony in San Diego last weekend.
Another Virginia cartoonist, Bill Rechin of Spotsylvania, won a joint award with writer Don Wilder for "Out of Bounds," which was judged the best single-panel cartoon. The pair also produces "Crock."
It was the first National Cartoonist Society award for both Grace and Rechin. The society has handed out awards since 1946.
Jim Borgman, an editorial cartoonist for the Cincinnati Enquirer, won the society's top award, the Reuben, as best cartoonist of the year.
Grace began drawing "Ernie" eight years ago and it is now syndicated in more than 200 newspapers. His studio is in the Oakton home he shares with his wife and young son.
The strip has a dry wit and often includes social commentary. It has been controversial, especially a few years ago when Grace appeared to make fun of then-President Bush.
"I didn't mean anything by it, I just thought it was funny," Grace said. "And I paid dearly for it," he added with a chuckle.
About 15 newspapers canceled the strip after readers complained it was offensive, he said. Many of those papers reinstated the strip after other readers lobbied for it, he said.
"Fortunately, I have loyal fans."
The strip this week features Ernie's unctuous uncle Sid, who believes Ernie has had a sex change operation. "I keep flashing back to 1952," Sid says in one panel. "When my mother had her cocker spaniel neutered.
"Sid is my favorite character," Grace said. "Everybody knows somebody like that. I happen to be related to a lot of them."
by CNB