Introducing the Rachel Cooke Graphic Short Story prize

In July 2007, to herald a brand new graphic short story prize being launched by The Observer, Rachel Cooke wrote a piece about how, after years of heel-dragging, she had come to love the comics form. “I used to think that graphic novels were for geeks,” she admitted. But, having been confronted by too many dazzling examples to ignore – Persepolis, Fun Home, Jimmy Corrigan, Black Hole et al – she changed her mind. “Suddenly, I wanted to seek these geeks/critical geniuses out.”

Over the next 18 years, until her death last November, Rachel was tireless in seeking out the best the form had to offer. The enthusiasm with which she wrote about graphic novels in her monthly Observer column, first published in 2010, was infectious. For author-artists unaccustomed to receiving sustained attention in a national newspaper, it was galvanising. As Peggy Burns of the Canadian publisher Drawn & Quarterly noted in November, Rachel covered under-the-radar authors with the same curiosity and thoughtfulness she afforded to heavy-hitters. “A Rachel Cooke review never felt like you were reading an assignment,” Burns wrote. “It felt like she was bursting to tell you about this book.”

Back in 2007, at the launch of the graphic short story prize, Rachel wrote that “the genre is currently so muscular and innovative that my fellow judges and I have no way of knowing what exactly it will throw up … All [we] do know is that we have every expectation of finding a star of the future.”

She was right. Over the years the competition – co-run with Jonathan Cape until Faber took over in 2022 – has recognised now-feted authors such as Isabel Greenberg (The One Hundred Nights of Hero) and Joff Winterhart (Days of the Bagnold Summer). Astrid Goldsmith, whose wonderful debut The Crystal Vase I reviewed in my first graphic novel column last month, won the 2021 prize.

Each year, entrants submit a four-page story with original illustrations designed to run over a double-page spread in the New Review. This year’s winner will receive a cheque for £1,000 and their work will appear in print and online (the award for the runner-up is £250, and their story will also be published online). Entries will be assessed by our two guest judges: Aimée de Jongh, who so brilliantly adapted William Golding’s Lord of the Flies as a graphic novel in 2024; and Jonathan Coe, author of What a Carve Up!, The Proof of My Innocence and many other terrific novels.

The prize is still proudly co-run with Faber and Comica. What is changing is the name. When the winner is announced in March, they will be taking home the inaugural Rachel Cooke Graphic Short Story prize.

Rachel, a true champion of graphic novels, was greatly loved by readers and practitioners alike. We can’t think of a better way to honour her memory.

Details of entry for the 2026 prize will be announced soon

Illustration Oscar Ingham for The Observer