The 17th International George van Raemdonck Kartoenale in Boechout, Belgium, was devoted in 2026 to the theme “HAND.” The organisers placed the physical act of drawing at the centre of this edition, accepting original works made by hand and requiring participants to declare that their cartoons had been created without artificial intelligence.

More than 600 original, hand-drawn cartoons were submitted. The catalogue records the edition through its participating artists, prize-winning cartoons and selected works, while also looking back at the life and career of George van Raemdonck.

In his introduction to the catalogue, Boechout mayor Koen T’Sijen connects the theme with the basic process behind a cartoon: an idea begins in the mind and takes shape through the hand.

The decision to concentrate on analogue work was deliberate. The competition rules excluded digital creations, digitally coloured drawings, prints and photographs. Participants also signed a declaration confirming that the work was handmade, that its concept had been developed without AI and that they were its sole author.

Jury chair Saskia Gheysens describes the same approach from the cartoonist’s side. Artists were invited to return to an empty sheet of paper and work without screens or tablets.

Cartoonists from many countries took part in the 2026 edition. The participant list below follows the catalogue, with clear Turkish name-order and diacritic issues normalised where they can be identified with confidence.

Vladimir Stankovski of Serbia received the first George van Raemdonck Prize, awarded by the village council of Boechout. Camille Ledigarcher of France received second prize, while Italy’s Alessandro Gatto received both the third and fourth prizes.

The competition bears the name of Belgian cartoonist, illustrator and painter George van Raemdonck (1888–1966).

Born in Antwerp on 28 August 1888, Van Raemdonck studied at the Antwerp Academy from 1903 to 1908 and later at the National Higher Institute of Fine Arts, where he studied landscape painting under Frans Courtens. He also studied violin at the Conservatory before returning to drawing and painting.

After the outbreak of the First World War, he fled with his family to the Netherlands. His first political drawing for De Amsterdammer, De nijvere Bertha, appeared on 6 December 1914.

In 1917 he met writer A.M. de Jong. Their best-known collaboration, Bulletje en Boonestaak, began in Het Volk in May 1922. De Jong wrote the text, while Van Raemdonck produced 8,856 drawings over fifteen years. The series continued until November 1937.

His political work took an explicitly anti-fascist direction during the 1930s. After Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in January 1933, Van Raemdonck and De Jong used pen and pencil in their opposition to fascism. Anti-fascist contributions appeared regularly in De Notenkraker until 1935.

Van Raemdonck returned to Belgium in 1928 and settled in Boechout in 1947. He continued working in cartoons, comics, illustration and painting until his death there on 26 January 1966, at the age of 77. The catalogue notes the exceptional attention to detail in his work.