John A. Lent Scholarship in Comics Studies
ICAF is proud to hold each year the John A. Lent Scholarship in Comics Studies competition. The Lent Scholarship, named for pioneering teacher and researcher Dr. John Lent, is offered to encourage student research into comic art. ICAF awards the Lent Scholarship to a current student who has authored, or is in the process of authoring, a substantial research-based writing project about comics. (Preference is given to master’s theses and doctoral dissertations, but all students of comics are encouraged to apply.)
The Scholarship is subject to the condition that the recipient present a half-hour talk, based on her or his research, during ICAF. The award consists of up to US$750 in kind to offset the cost of travel to and/or accommodations at the conference. A commemorative certificate is also awarded.
Applicants must be students (or have been students since the last ICAF was held), or show acceptance into an academic program at the time of submission. Applications for the Lent Scholarship are closed until 2024.
The Scholarship competition is adjudicated by a three-person committee chosen from among the members of ICAF’s Executive Committee. To apply, please submit the following to [email protected].
The Scholarship is subject to the condition that the recipient present a half-hour talk, based on her or his research, during ICAF. The award consists of up to US$750 in kind to offset the cost of travel to and/or accommodations at the conference. A commemorative certificate is also awarded.
Applicants must be students (or have been students since the last ICAF was held), or show acceptance into an academic program at the time of submission. Applications for the Lent Scholarship are closed until 2024.
The Scholarship competition is adjudicated by a three-person committee chosen from among the members of ICAF’s Executive Committee. To apply, please submit the following to [email protected].
- A self-contained excerpt from the project in question, not to exceed twenty (20) double-spaced pages of typescript. Unpublished manuscripts are preferred.
- A brief cover letter, introducing the applicant and explaining the nature of the project.
- The applicant’s professional resume.
- A brief letter of reference, on school letterhead, from a teacher or academic advisor (preferably thesis director), establishing the applicant’s student status and speaking to her/his qualifications as a researcher and presenter.
About Dr. John A. Lent
Dr. John A. Lent is one of the leading proponents of the international study of comics, and of comics research within academia. Having lectured and taught on comics and mass communications all over the world, Dr. Lent is recognized as an authority and vital resource in comics studies; he has had an incalculable impact on the lives of students, fellow scholars, and comics creators worldwide.
Dr. Lent’s academic teaching career spans over 45 years, during which he has served as mentor to countless students, as well as founder, editor, co-editor, or regular contributor to numerous journals. Along the way Dr. Lent has authored hundreds of articles and authored or edited 61 books, among them Pulp Demons, Themes and Issues in Asian Cartooning, Cartooning in Latin America, Cartooning in Africa, and many volumes on comic art bibliography. He is founding editor of the International Journal of Comic Art and founding chair of both the "Asian Popular Culture" area of the Popular Culture Association and the Comic Art Working Group of the International Association for Mass Communication Research. Dr. Lent is also renowned as an expert on Asian popular culture: he is editor of the journal Asian Cinema and chair of the Asian Cinema Studies Society, and for 26 years was editor of Berita (which he started). In addition, he founded the Malaysia/Singapore/Brunei Studies Group of the Association for Asian Studies.
Given Dr. Lent’s extraordinary record as a teacher, ICAF is proud to offer the annual Lent Scholarship to support outstanding student work on comics. This scholarship award falls well within ICAF’s mission, which includes encouraging a multidisciplinary and pluralistic approach to comics study and providing a showcase for groundbreaking scholarship. The Lent Scholarship dovetails perfectly with our goals, and, conversely, ICAF offers the perfect context for such an award.
Lent Award Recipients:
Dr. Lent’s academic teaching career spans over 45 years, during which he has served as mentor to countless students, as well as founder, editor, co-editor, or regular contributor to numerous journals. Along the way Dr. Lent has authored hundreds of articles and authored or edited 61 books, among them Pulp Demons, Themes and Issues in Asian Cartooning, Cartooning in Latin America, Cartooning in Africa, and many volumes on comic art bibliography. He is founding editor of the International Journal of Comic Art and founding chair of both the "Asian Popular Culture" area of the Popular Culture Association and the Comic Art Working Group of the International Association for Mass Communication Research. Dr. Lent is also renowned as an expert on Asian popular culture: he is editor of the journal Asian Cinema and chair of the Asian Cinema Studies Society, and for 26 years was editor of Berita (which he started). In addition, he founded the Malaysia/Singapore/Brunei Studies Group of the Association for Asian Studies.
Given Dr. Lent’s extraordinary record as a teacher, ICAF is proud to offer the annual Lent Scholarship to support outstanding student work on comics. This scholarship award falls well within ICAF’s mission, which includes encouraging a multidisciplinary and pluralistic approach to comics study and providing a showcase for groundbreaking scholarship. The Lent Scholarship dovetails perfectly with our goals, and, conversely, ICAF offers the perfect context for such an award.
Lent Award Recipients:
- 2023 Cassia Hayward-Fitch, University of East Anglia
- 2019 Francesca Lyn, Virginia Commonwealth University
- 2017 Colin Beineke, University of Missouri
- 2016 Eike Exner, University of Southern California
- 2014 Jennifer Anderson Bliss, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- 2013 Benjamin Woo, Simon Fraser University
- 2011 Lucia Cedeira Serantes, University of Western Ontario
- 2009 Marco Pellitteri, Italy
- 2008 Ben Little, Middlesex University, UK
- 2007 Orion Ussner Kidder, University of Alberta
- 2006 Barbara Postema, Michigan State University
- 2005 Nhu-Hoa Nguyen, Université du Québec à Montréal