Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême
The Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême is a lifetime achievement prize given every year at the Angoulême International Comics Festival to a comics creator. It has no money attached, but it is widely seen as the top award in Franco-Belgian comics. Most winners are French or Belgian, but some come from other countries, and the typical recipient is around 50 years old. Five women have won the prize: Florence Cestac, Rumiko Takahashi, Julie Doucet, Posy Simmonds, and Anouk Ricard.
The prize began at the first Angoulême festival in 1974. Usually the winner becomes president of the next year's festival board and prize jury, and since 1982 they also design the next year's festival poster. In 1984 Claire Bretécher received a special tenth-anniversary award in addition to the main prize, a practice later repeated for other anniversaries. From 1989 the main prize was decided by a jury of past winners, except for 1997–1999 when all attending creators voted. The jury system was criticized and was dropped after 2012, leading to different methods for choosing winners. In 2015 the winner was again chosen by a vote of all registered comics creators from nominees. In January 2016, many nominees withdrew in protest of a male-only shortlist; the board then added more female nominees, then changed course and allowed registered professionals to vote for any candidate.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 15:37 (CET).