Oulu Comics Association gives the Skrew You recognition award for the work done for the benefit of comics.
“ The name for the award came from the first issues of Ruuvari (screwdriver) comics magazine published in the 1980’s and 1990’s. The Association will be handing out the awards whenever a good occasion presents itself.” -Harri Filppa
2021
Aapo Kukko
Oulu Comics Association has awarded the year 2021 Skrew You -award to Oulu-born comic artist Aapo Kukko. The Skrew You -award was handed at the Oulu Comics Festival.
“The comics association members have had a pleasure to follow the development of Aapo Kukko from beginner comics maker to full-fledged artist,” told director Harri Filppa. “Kukko has also been active in all the events of the association.”
The first comics by Kukko were published when he was 16 years old. The most recent ones, Karmea tarina (2019), Sosialisti ja nihilisti (2019) and Huojuva torni (2021), by Kukko, who turned 30 years old a while ago, are displaying a sovereign mastery of articulacy.
2020
culture magazine Kaltio
The culture magazine Kaltio, founded in the year 1945, has offered a publishing platform to comics makers from Oulu and covered comics in its reviews and articles as an equal form of art from the times of the first editor in chief Jussi Vilkuna. Kaltio has also published the comics book Oululaisia suurmiehiä, into which comics made for Kaltio by Ville Ranta have been composed.
2019
Ulla Kaislaranta
Ulla Kaislaranta is an artist who worked almost 40 years at the Oulu Museum of Art. A big part from that time, Kaislaranta was a rector of an art school. Although theatre is close to Kaislaranta’s heart, it has been possible to study a wide spectrum of different forms of art in the Oulu Art School. The school has provided teaching of comics fundamentals from the 1980s.
The first comics by many comics hobbyist from Oulu has been published in Viiva -yearbook published by Oulu Art School. The most active ones have managed to publish their own comics book via the school.
2018
2017
2016
Heikki Porkola (1941-2016)
Oulu Comics Association awarded the Skrew You award posthumously to Heikki Porkola. The late Porkola acted as a cultural Secretary in the city of Kemi and was one of the creators of the Arctic Comics Festival and was the producer for the event for 25 years. During his time, Kemi became a notable comics city.
In the 1980’s the Arctic Comics Festival grew to become a national institution with its renowned international guests. Because the public attendance was moderate, Kemi was able to attract artists who wouldn’t attend bigger events. One of these was Robert Crumb.
Kemi, steered by Porkola promoted comics. If a comic of a certain type couldn’t find a publisher elsewhere, the Arctic Comics Centre would publish it. In the 1980’s and 1990’s there formed a community around Heikki Porkola which influenced the status and public image of comics on a national level.
2015
Sauli Pesonen
Oulu Comics Association has awarded the Skrew You award to the executive director of the Oulu Film Centre Sauli Pesonen. The recognition was awarded for the work done for the benefit of Northern Finlands comics in the Oulu Comics Festival.
Pesonen has worked for a long time as a comics critic in the Kaleva newspaper. His observant reviews have offered a professional view about new publications for both public and comic authors alike. Pesonen has written a nonfiction book about central comic works called alkupalat (1993)
The Oulu Comics Festival owes a thanks to Pesonen, without his influence the festival couldn’t have gotten the start that it now has gotten.
2014
Mari Ahokoivu
Mari Ahokoivu (b.1984) is a illustrator and comic artist living in Oulu. Ahokoivu makes comics for both adults and children. Her material has also been published internationally. Ahokoivu is an active comics artist and has been actively involved in founding Oulu Comics Center.
2013
Jii Roikonen
Roikonen who is celebrating his 3rd decade as a comic artist (b. 1970), has delighted the public since 1983. Professionally he has been making illustrations and comics for two decades.
Jii Roikonen’s most known character is Jasso, who just turned 21 years. The Kind and humoristic stories and illustrations are Roikonen’s trademarks.
The reason for his Skrew You award is a long career with comics. Roikonen has previously received the Finnish Comics Society’s Puupäähattu award in 2005.
2012
Keijo Ahlqvist
Since 2000 Ahlqvist (b. 1955) has been teaching comics and guided many in their first steps of becoming a comics artist in the Liminka School of Arts. He received the title of Comics Counsellor in 2009.
Before Liminka, Ahlqvist influenced in Kemi, where many groundbreaking works saw the light of day, most notably the municipal reports of 1985-1993 of the city of Kemi.
2011
Pentti Nuortimo
Nuortimo is one of the founders of the Oulu Comics Association and the first chairman of the Association. In the 1980’s Nuortimos works were published in the newspaper Kaleva and in the Comics Society’s Kupla magazine. He also worked as an illustrator in Kaleva between 1975 and 1983. Nowadays Nuortimo works as a graphic designer at Fiskars.
Ilpo Koskela
Koskela has been involved in almost every comics related activity in Northern Finland. He has also been a nationally awarded comics artist since the 1980’s and has been a part of developing comics teaching in Oulu and in Liminka and directed the Arctic Comics Festival in Kemi besides publishing comics. Koskela’s comics have been translated to english and swedish.
Esa Holopainen
Holopainen was awarded mainly for his comics Tyrnävän Verikoirat for it’s 20 year run. The comic was first published in the Oulu University’s newspaper in 1989 and was published until 2011. His work as a comics teacher and event organizer in Muhos also deserves a thanks. For most of the public, his comic Naapurit, which is published in the newspaper Kaleva’s website, is the most known.