Gat Perich international award winner 2007
Joaquim Muntanyola. Honorary Prize.
Joaquim Muntañola i Puig was born in Barcelona in April 1914. He started drawing and writing at a very young age for Patufet magazine and other publications before the Spanish Civil war, such as Be Negre, TBO, or Lecturas or Papitu. He was one of the most popular artists of the post-war period, thanks to his prolific ability to create cartoons and jokes. For forty years he directed the magazine Atalaya, and published in Destino. He also made cartoons for Francisco Rovira Vane and Jose Escobar, but achieved great popularity with a campaign of the brand Potax soup. He also appeared in the newspaper Radio and began to draw El Correo Catalan, El Mundo Deportivo, and the children's magazine TBO, where he created the character among others Josechu Vasco. For twenty-two years he drew the daily cartoon for the newspaper La Vanguardia, while also drawing for many other magazines, such as Barcelona Deportiva, Vida Deportiva, Dicen, Lean, or Tio Vivo. He has written novels, articles and stories, successful plays, such as "En Baldiri de la costa" or "Ja tenim siscents," starring Paul Garsaball and even adapted for cinema, and has made great advertising campaigns. Awarded the Creu de Sant Jordi in 2000, at almost 90 years old he collaborated on weekly programs on Radio Xavier Grasset in Catalonia. In 2006 held a major retrospective of his life and his work: "Muntañola l’art de riure, l’art de viure", and in 2007 received the International Gat Perich Humour Award..