Roy Crane Award

for Outstanding Achievement in Visual Arts (2022)

About the Award

The Roy Crane Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts is given each year to a student at The University of Texas at Austin for unique, creative effort in the performing, literary, and visual arts. An undergraduate or graduate student from any major or area of study may compete for the award. The selection committee will give no weight to any entrant’s grade point average or other academic achievement.

News: Eight Students Receive the 2021 Roy Crane Award for Their Achievements in the Literary Arts (January 20, 2022)

Deadline

May 5, 2022

Eligibility

An undergraduate or graduate student at UT Austin from any major or area of study may compete for the award. The student must be enrolled during the semester in which the application is due. Students graduating in May 2022 are ineligible to apply. 

The selection committee will give no weight to any entrant’s grade point average or other academic achievement. To ensure that an entrant’s work may be compared with similar forms of creativity, each year the award committee designates an area of the arts:

2022: Visual Arts
2023: Performing Arts
2024: Literary Arts

The following materials must be uploaded via Interfolio:

• Portfolio requirement – Submit up to 15 images of up to 10 artworks in a single PDF document.
• • Each image must be on a separate page and include the artist’s name, title, date, materials, and size (H x W x D).
  • If an image is still a video, a link to an excerpt of the video may be included. All video works should be no more than 3 minutes total.

All of the above materials must be uploaded and your application submitted no later than 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, May 5, 2022 to be considered for the 2022 awards.

Award Amount

$1,000 – $4,500*

*Award amount varies based on annual endowment.

About the Donor

ROY CRANE (1901-1977) is called the father of the adventure story cartoon strip. His first creation, “Wash Tubbs,” appeared in 1922. It was soon followed by “Buz Sawyer,” syndicated by King Features, which became world famous, appearing in more than 300 newspapers in the U.S. and being translated into more than ten languages.

The Louvre and the Smithsonian Institute have exhibited Crane’s work. He has been honored by many professional organizations, including the National Cartoonists Society, which gave him a “Ruben” in 1950 as cartoonist of the year.

Born in Abilene, Texas, Crane attended UT from 1919 to 1922. His wife, the former Evelyn Hatcher, was also a student here. Crane was art editor of the CACTUS yearbook and the LONGHORN, a student literary magazine that later merged with the RANGER, and he drew cartoons for the DAILY TEXAN.

His interest in The University of Texas at Austin continued throughout his life. In addition to establishing the award that bears his name, he presented a collection of his cartoons to the University Library. In 1969 he was named a Distinguished Alumnus by The University Ex-Students’ Association.