The 2022 GLAAD Media Awards cartoon-related winners

Last updated on June 14th, 2023

The second part of the 2022 GLAAD Media Awards were held last week. As usual, the awards are a way to recognize LGBTQ representation in mainstream American media.

Below is a look at the 2022 GLAAD Media Awards cartoon-related winners. Winners in each category are in bold; animation and comics related nominees are in italics. A full list of winners is available here.

Outstanding Film – Wide Release

• Eternals (Walt Disney)
• The Mitchells vs. the Machines (Netflix)
• Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (Amazon Studios)
• tick, tick… BOOM! (Netflix)
• West Side Story (Walt Disney)

Outstanding Documentary

• Changing the Game (Hulu)
• Flee (NEON)
• “Cured,” Independent Lens (PBS)
• The Lady and The Dale (HBO)
• The Legend of the Underground (HBO)
• No Ordinary Man (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
• Nuclear Family (HBO)
• “Pier Kids,” POV (PBS)
• Pray Away (Netflix)
• Pride (FX)

Outstanding Children’s Programming

• “Family Day,” Sesame Street (HBO Max)
• “Berry Bounty Banquet – Part 2,” Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City (WildBrain Studios/YouTube Kids)
• City of Ghosts (Netflix)
• “Gonzo-rella,” Muppet Babies (Disney Junior)
• “Joie de Jonathan,” Fancy Nancy (Disney Junior)
• Ridley Jones (Netflix)
• Rugrats (Paramount+)
• Summer Camp Island (Cartoon Network/HBO Max)
• We The People (Netflix)
• “Whatever Floats Your Float,” Madagascar: A Little Wild (Hulu/Peacock)

Outstanding Kids & Family Programming

• Power Rangers: Dino Fury (Nickelodeon/Netflix)
• Amphibia (Disney Channel)
• Centaurworld (Netflix) 
• The Loud House (Nickelodeon)
• The Owl House (Disney Channel)
• “Claudia and the Sad Goodbye,” The Baby-Sitters Club (Netflix)
• Diary of a Future President (Disney+)
• Doogie Kamealoha, MD (Disney+)
• High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (Disney+)
• “Manlee Men,” Danger Force (Nickelodeon)

Outstanding Comic Book

• “Crush & Lobo,” by Mariko Tamaki, Amancay Nahuelpan, Tamra Bonvillain, Nick Filardi, Ariana Maher (DC Comics)
• “Aquaman: The Becoming,” by Brandon Thomas, Diego Olortegui, Skylar Patridge, Scott Koblish, Wade Von Grawbadger, Adriano Lucas, Alex Guimarães, Andworld Design (DC Comics)
• “Barbalien: Red Planet,” by Tate Brombal, Jeff Lemire, Gabriel Hernández Walta, Jordie Bellaire, Aditya Bidikar (Dark Horse Comics)
• “The Dreaming: Waking Hours,” by G. Willow Wilson, Javier Rodriguez, Nick Robles, M.K. Perker, Matheus Lopes, Chris Sotomayor, Simon Bowland (DC Comics)
• “Guardians of the Galaxy,” by Al Ewing, Juann Cabal, Juan Frigeri, Federico Blee, Cory Petit (Marvel Comics)
• “Harley Quinn: The Animated Series – The Eat. Bang! Kill. Tour,” by Tee Franklin, Max Sarin, Erich Owen, Marissa Louise, Taylor Esposito (DC Comics)
• “Killer Queens,” by David M. Booher, Claudia Balboni, Harry Saxon, Lucas Gattoni (Dark Horse Comics)
• “Star Wars: Doctor Aphra,” by Alyssa Wong, Minkyu Jung, Ray-Anthony Height, Federico Sabbatini, Victor Olazaba, Rachelle Rosenberg, Joe Caramagna (Marvel Comics)
• “Superman: Son of Kal-El,” by Tom Taylor, John Timms, Daniele Di Nicuolo, Steve Pugh, Clayton Henry, Gabe Eltaeb, Hi-Fi, Romulo Fajardo Jr., Steve Buccellato, Dave Sharpe (DC Comics)
• “Wynd,” by James Tynion IV, Michael Dialynas, Andworld Design (BOOM! Studios)

Outstanding Original Graphic Novel/Anthology

• “Cheer Up! Love and Pompoms,” by Crystal Frasier, Val Wise, Oscar O. Jupiter (Oni Press)
• “DC Pride” [anthology] (DC Comics)
• “Eighty Days,” by A.C. Esguerra (Archaia/BOOM! Studios)
• “The Girl from the Sea,” by Molly Ostertag, Maarta Laiho (Graphix/Scholastic)
• “Girl Haven,” by Lilah Sturges, Meaghan Carter, Joamette Gil (Oni Press)
• “I Am Not Starfire,” by Mariko Tamaki, Yoshi Yoshitani, Aditya Bidikar (DC Comics)
• “Marvel’s Voices: Pride” [anthology] (Marvel Comics)
• “Renegade Rule,” by Ben Kahn, Rachel Silverstein, Sam Beck, Jim Campbell (Dark Horse Comics)
• “The Secret to Superhuman Strength,” by Alison Bechdel, Holly Rae Taylor (Mariner Books/HMH)
• “Shadow Life,” by Hiromi Goto, Ann Xu (First Second/Macmillan)

Outstanding Online Journalism – Video or Multimedia

• “Transnational” [series], by Eva Reign, Alyza Enriquez, Freddy McConnell, Vivek Kemp, Courtney Brooks, Sarah Burke, Hendrik Hinzel, Alyza Enriquez, Dan Ming, Trey Strange, and Daisy Wardell (VICE News)
• “How Queer Characters Have Evolved In Children’s Animation,” by Chris Snyder, Kyle Desiderio, Jess Chou, A.C. Fowler, Kuwilileni Hauwanga, Abbey White, and Kalai Chik (Insider)
• “+Talk: HIV & Faith,” by Karl Schmid, Mike Spierer, Brent Zacky, and Victor Barreiro (Plus Life Media)
• “Caretakers” [series], by Geena Rocero, Jon Mallow, Dan Greenberg, Sheena Alexis Suarez, Erin McIntyre, Chelsea Rugg, Shant Alexander, and Victoria Malabrigo (PBS.com)
• “Covid Confessions: Drag Performers Share Their Experiences Working During The Pandemic,” by Alec Fischer (Fischr Media)
• “For Ruth Ellis Center Staff, Helping LGBTQ Homeless Youth is Personal,” by Scott Gatz, John Halbach, Maria Tridas, and Emily Geraghty (LGBTQ Nation)
• “Legendary” [series], by Peppermint, Matt McDonough, Jennifer Tiexiera, Michael Seligman, Julia Hoff, Ryan Murray, Ximena Sanchez, and Tom Lofthouse (NowThis/Discovery+)
• “Meet the Logo Legends: Brooklyn Trans Liberation,” by Terron Moore, Sean Devaney, Sam Manzella, Christopher Rudolph, and Zachary O’Connor (Logo)
• “The Power of Layshia Clarendon,” by Katie Barnes, Jennifer Karson-Strauss, Andy Sharp, and Jennifer Holt (ESPN.com)
• “Tyra Banks Interview: SI Swimsuit Cover Model Leyna Bloom,” (Sports Illustrated Swimsuit)

My thoughts

While I’m sure all the winners deserved their wins, I wished there were more cartoon-related winners.

Most of the TV show nominees come from cable or streaming services, which fits the general trend in award shows for television.

“Eternals” is an odd choice for Outstanding Film, given the mixed reviews it received, versus “The Mitchells vs. the Machines” being near-universally well liked.

“Crush & Lobo” winning for Outstanding Comic Book is interesting. Lobo is a parody of the worst aspects of 80s/90s-era hyper-violent, toxic masculinity-laden (and definitely not gay-friendly) comic book protagonists. Flash forward from the early 90s to now, where his daughter Crush (introduced in 2018) recently had her own miniseries, and is openly queer.

Over on the graphic novel side, “Cheer Up” centers around a pair of high school cheerleaders, one of whom is a trans girl.

“Life is Strange: True Colors” is the winner for Outstanding Video Game. Other nominees included “Psychonauts 2” and “Boyfriend Dungeon.” The latter is a “Dream Daddy”-esque game involving dating supernatural beings and fighting creatures.

The “Online Journalism” category features a story (and video piece) by Insider about how children’s animation has changed over the years for LGBTQ representation. The usual 2010s-era shows are mentioned, including “Steven Universe,” the “She-Ra” reboot, and “Adventure Time.”

Strawberry Shortcake and Florida?

I notice that several of the cartoons nominated are reboots of shows that Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, would’ve grown up with in the 80s and 90s. The shows in question? “Rugrats,” “Muppet Babies,” and “Strawberry Shortcake.” The last one stands out due to recent events.

Florida’s governor has really gone to town on promoting backwards, anti-LGBTQ legislation in the Sunshine State. This includes DeSantis criticizing modern children’s cartoons for including LGBTQ characters. However, a few months ago, DeSantis also made strawberry shortcake the official dessert of Florida. No idea why it isn’t Key lime pie, the state’s most famous dessert; however, Florida’s $1 billion strawberry industry grows 75% of the nation’s wintertime strawberry crop.

It seemed ironic that a cartoon that dates from DeSantis’ youth, and shares a name with his state’s newest official dessert (and a major crop), is now LGBTQ-inclusive. Of course, today’s kids will get to see gay characters normalized on “Strawberry Shortcake” and other revived classics, which is a good thing.

Other categories

Some of the other categories included superhero-related nominees, though other than “Eternals,” none of them won. For “Outstanding Drama,” FX’s “Pose” won this year, beating out superhero shows “Supergirl,” “Batwoman,” and “Doom Patrol.” “Outstanding New TV series” saw HBO Max’s “Hacks” win over FX’s “Y: The Last Man.”

For the variety/talk show category, Amber Ruffin’s show on Peacock was nominated for a story on Superman’s bisexual son coming out, amusingly titled: “Bisexual Superman Is Not Ruining Your Childhood, B*tch Please.” (It’s available on YouTube.) However, it lost to an Oprah-related show on Apple TV+.

“GLAAD Awards 2012-17” by DVSROSS is marked with CC BY 2.0 (Flickr / cropped from original)