Rudy Gheysens

RUDY GHEYSENS was born in 1946 in Oudenaarde, Belgium. He attend course of secondary teacher training – plastic arts - in Ghent. He is the founder and chairman of the “EUROPEAN CARTOON CONTEST”, a worldwide known biennale cartoon contest that’s held since 1978 in Kruishoutem (Belgium). Since 1994 he is president of the society “vzw EURO-KARTOENALE” In 2005 he founded the EUROPEAN CARTOON CENTER (ECC) in Kruishoutem-Belgium. The ECC wants to promote the cartoon and caricature as being a present day form of art. With different exhibitions and cartoon activities it promotes contacts between cartoonists of all over the world. In June 2007 Rudy’s dream came through with the inauguration of a brand new building to house the European Cartoon Centre. He is also the co-founder of “Scherper” (Sharper) a Flemish cartoon magazine. He was member of several cartoon jury’s as for example : Azerbaijan: Baku, Belgium: Aalter, Antwerpen, Beringen (10 x), Boechout (4x), Harelbeke, Gent, Kapellen (2x), Knokke-Heist (2x), Bulgaria: Ruse, China: Redman cartoon contest (Beijing) and AYACC - Asian Youth Animation & Comics Contest (Guiyang), Greece: Athens (Greekartoon), Israel: Haifa, Poland: Satyrycon (Legnica), Russia: Surgut (Siberia), Serbia: Zemun (Belgrade), Turkey: Bursa He is also organizer of different cartoon exhibitions