“Matt Groening, the creator of “The Simpsons,” received the top award from the National Cartoonists Society this weekend. Groening won the Reuben award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year Saturday (May 24) at the society’s annual awards ceremony, the AP reports. The award is named after Rube Goldberg, the first president of the society. Also nominated for cartoonist of the year were comic-strip artists Pat Brady (“Rose Is Rose” ), Greg Evans (“Luann” ) and Dan Piraro (“Bizarro” ). Among the other awards, Darby Conley won in the newspaper comic-strip division for his “Get Fuzzy.” Groening created the comic “Life in Hell,” which appears in alternative newspapers across the country, before going on to “The Simpsons.” The cartoon started as a series of shorts on “The Tracey Ullman Show” before becoming its own series.”
