Calvin & Hobbes creator Bill Watterson received the Grand Prix award this weekend in France at the 41st annual Angoulême International Comics Festival, honoring his lifetime achievement.

The prize is awarded to a living comics creator, and traditionally the winner serves as president of the jury for the following year’s festival; previous honorees have included Robert Crumb and Art Spiegelman. Watterson, Alan Moore and Katsuhiro Otomo (who incidentally received a lifetime achievement award of his own this weekend) were the three finalists this year, with Alan Moore stating late last week that if he won, he would decline the prize. It will be interesting to see if Watterson accepts the prize or attends next year. Tom Spurgeon has some additional commentary on the win.

Other winners, also courtesy of the Comics Reporter and as noted on the Angouleme site, include:

  • Prix du public Cultura: Mauvais Genre, Chloé Cruchaudet (Delcourt)
  • Prix de la bande dessinée alternative: Un Fanzine carré (Various)
  • Prix jeunesse: Les Carnets de Cerise -- Le Livre d'Hector Joris Chamblain and Aurélie Neyret (Soleil)
  • Prix Révélation: Le Livre De Léviathan, P. Blegvad (L'Apocalypse) and Mon Ami Dahmer, Derf Backderf (Ca et La)
  • Prix meilleur album: Come Prima, Alfred (Delcourt)
  • Prix Special Du Jury: La Propriété, Rutu Modan (Actes Sud BD)
  • Prix de la série: Fuzz & Pluck Vol. 2, Ted Stearn (Cornelius)
  • Prix du patrimoine: Cowboy Henk by Herr Seele and Kamagurka (Fremok)