CARTOONING AWARDS: ‘Rango’ and ‘Rio,’ McCoy and Galifianakis among NCS nominees

“Rango’s” Mark “Crash” McCreery is nominated for Feature Animation in the NCS Awards. (Paramount/Nickelodeon)

AN OSCAR WINNER and an Emmy contender are among the finalists for the National Cartoonist Society’s Reubens divisional awards, announced today by the NCS.

Character designer Mark McCreery is nominated in the Feature Animation category for “Rango,” which last month won the Academy Award, beating out “Kung Fu Panda 2” — whose director, Jennifer Yuh Nelson, is also nommed for an NCS award. The third finalist for Feature Animation is “Rio" director Carlos Saldanha.

In the Television Animation category, Pendleton Ward is up for his Emmy-nominated “Adventure Time,” which will go up against another Cartoon Network show — “The Wonderful World of Gumball” (Ben Bocquelet and Antoine Perez) — and Nickelodeon’s Daytime Emmy-winning “The Mighty B!” (Erik Wiese).

Elsewhere, Glenn McCoy is a double nominee for Newspaper Comic Strips (“The Duplex”) and Greeting Cards. The other comic strip finalists are “Mother Goose and Grimm” (the Pulitzer-winning Mike Peters) and “Dustin” (Jeff Parker and Steve Kelley).

Two talents syndicated by the Washington Post service — Lisa Benson Benson and Mike Lester — are nominated for Editorial Cartoons; another right-leaning cartoonist, Michael Ramirez, is the third finalist.

Nick Galifianakis, cartoonist for The Post’s syndicated advice column by Carolyn Hax, is nominated in Advertising Illustration, in which he’ll face off against longtime Baltimore Sun and Economist cartoonist Kevin “KAL” Kallaugher, as well as Tom Stiglich.

The NCS also announced the finalists for its just-added webcomics division: Matthew Inman for The Oatmeal; Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins for Penny Arcade; and Jon Rosenberg for Scenes From a Multiverse.

The NCS earlier announced the three finalists for the “Cartoonist of the Year” Reuben Award: Brian Crane (“Pickles”), Stephan Pastis (“Pearls Before Swine”) and Tom Richmond (MAD magazine).

The Reuben Awards ceremony will be May 26 in Las Vegas.

Here’s the full list of the 2012 nominees:

(NATIONAL CARTOONISTS SOCIETY )

TELEVISION ANIMATION:

Ben Bocquelet and Antoine Perez, production design on “The Wonderful World of Gumball,” Cartoon Network

Pendleton Ward, character design on “Adventure Time,” Cartoon Network

Erik Wiese, production design on “The Mighty B,” Nickelodeon

FEATURE ANIMATION:

Mark McCreery, character design, “Rango”

Carlos Saldanha, director, “Rio”

Jennifer Yuh-Nelson, director, “Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom”

NEWSPAPER ILLUSTRATION:

Glen LeLievre

Michael McParlane

Bob Rich

GAG CARTOONS:

Matthew Diffee

Zach Kanin

Barbara Smaller

GREETING CARDS:

Dave Klug

Glenn McCoy

Rick Stromoski

NEWSPAPER COMIC STRIPS:

Glenn McCoy, “The Duplex”

Jeff Parker and Steve Kelley, “Dustin”

Mike Peters, “Mother Goose and Grimm”

NEWSPAPER PANEL CARTOONS:

Mark Parisi, “Off the Mark”

Stephanie Piro, “Smile”

Wiley Miller, “Non Sequitur”

MAGAZINE FEATURE/MAGAZINE ILLUSTRATION:

Victor Juhasz

Bruce McCall

Edward Sorel

BOOK ILLUSTRATION:

Barbara Lehman, “The Secret Box”

Mark Pett, “The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes”

John Rocco, “Blackout”

EDITORIAL CARTOONS:

Lisa Benson

Mike Lester

Mike Ramirez

ADVERTISING ILLUSTRATION:

Nick Galifianakis

Kevin Kallauger (KAL)

Tom Stiglich

COMIC BOOKS:

Darwyn Cooke, “Betty Saves the Day,” Rocketeer Adventures #2

Duncan Fegredo, “Hellboy: The Fury”

J.H. Williams, “Batwoman”

GRAPHIC NOVELS:

Chester Brown, “Paying for It”

Rick Geary, “The Lives of Sacco and Vanzetti”

Ben Katchor, “The Cardboard Valise”

ONLINE COMIC STRIPS:

Matthew Inman, The Oatmeal

Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins, Penny Arcade

Jon Rosenberg, Scenes From a Multiverse