These 2022 finalists follow controversy in the 2021 awards when NO winner was selected in the Cartooning categorya snub that Matt Bors written about:
In June, many of us in the field were appalled that for the first time since 1973 – and in one of the most politically tumultuous years of our lives – the Pulitzer Prize Board refused to award a prize for editorial cartooning. The AAEC released a fiery statement to “call for radical structural reform of the award to assess modern opinion cartoons by 21st century standards”. As far as I’m concerned, the decision confirmed that the stewards of the old media are no longer of interest to us. I left at the right time.
Reuben Bolingone of the last finalists, and Tom Tomorrow also talked about it in this Panel to Panel podcast.
It was another sign that the role of editorial cartoonist, a position once so influential that it changed elections and history, had shrunk to almost nothing as print gave way to the internet – where to be paid for any type of creative work is a triumph of the human spirit.
For 2022, the Pulitzer Committee has completely revamped the cartoon category to recognize “a distinguished portfolio of editorial cartoons or other pictorial works (still, animated, or both) characterized by political insight, editorial effectiveness, or value of public service”. The expanded category leaves room for longer works, like the 2022 winner, cartoons — and even beyond TikTok, in theory.
The other 2022 finalists present the expansion of the category. Zoe Si is a cartoonist from New York, with all that suggests, finding humor in the quirks and quirks of life.
Ann Telnaes is a traditional editorial cartoonist, and one of the greatest, who won the Pulitzer in 2001, only the second woman to win it, at the time. As a Library of Congress article noted, only 5% of editorial designers are women.
The level of diversity among “graphic reporters” is much higher – I would estimate that 50% or even more of graphic reporters are female or non-binary.
In any case, the 2022 Pulitzer winner is deserving, and if he marks the changing of the guard and the end of the era – the editorial comic award was given even 100 years and was the most prestigious award in American cartooning.
That said, it also recognizes the variety of media we consume today and gives an even wider range of creators a chance.