Prize Winners

Winners of the Herb Block Prize are renowned editorial cartoonists whose work embodies Herb Block’s philosophy and approach.

2023

Editorial Cartoonist, The Washington Post

Ann Telnaes creates editorial cartoons in various mediums — animation, visual essays, live sketches and traditional print — for The Washington Post. She won the Pulitzer Prize in 2001 for her print cartoons and the National Cartoonists Society’s Reuben for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year for 2016.

Winner
Editorial Cartoonist, Las Vegas Review-Journal

Michael Ramirez is a two-time winner of the prestigious Pulitzer Prize in 1994 and 2008, the 2015 Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year and a three-time Sigma Delta Chi, Society of Professional Journalism Award winner and the 2022 OPC winner.

Finalist

2022

Editorial Cartoonist with Andrews McMeel Syndication

Lalo Alcaraz is an award winning nationally syndicated editorial cartoonist and the creator of the syndicated daily comic strip, "La Cucaracha", published nationwide since 2002. Lalo is winner of six Southern California Press Awards for Best Editorial Cartoon and was an editorial cartoonist for The LA Weekly from 1992-2010.

Winner
Cartoonist

Peter Kuper’s illustrations and comics have appeared in newspapers and magazines in the US and abroad. He is a regular contributor to The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Nation, Charlie Hebdo and MAD magazine where he has written and illustrated SPY vs. SPY for twenty-five years.

Finalist

2021

Contributing cartoonist to Tinyview.com and Counterpoint

Note: The Herblock Prize & Lecture Ceremony for 2020 and 2021 is tentatively scheduled for October 2021 but will depend on the specifications of the Library of Congress at that time.

Rob Rogers is the award-winning, nationally-syndicated editorial cartoonist formerly with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. After earning an MFA in painting from Carnegie Mellon University in 1984, Rogers landed an internship at the Pittsburgh Press. Three months later he was hired as the full-…

Winner
Creator of the comic strip “Candorville,” co-creator of “Rudy Park"

Note: The Herblock Prize & Lecture for 2020 and 2021 is tentatively scheduled for October 2021 depending on the specifications set by The Library of Congress at that time. 

Finalist

2020

Contributing cartoonist for both The Nib and Counterpoint

Note: The 2020 Herblock Prize & Lecture for April 6th was cancelled due to concerns regarding Covid-19 and is tentatively rescheduled for October 25th, 2021. 

Winner
Contributing cartoonist for The Nib

Note: The 2020 Herblock Prize & Lecture for April 6th was cancelled due to concerns regarding Covid-19 and is tentatively rescheduled for October 25th, 2021.

Finalist

2019

Newsday

Matt Davies is the editorial cartoonist for Newsday in NY and has won both the 2004 Pulitzer Prize and the 2001 Robert F. Kennedy Journalism prize. In 2004 he was awarded the first ever Herblock Prize.

In 2017 he received the National Headliner Award and was also a runner up/finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2011 and 2016.

Winner
Self Syndicated

My name is Clay Jones and I do things a little differently than other editorial cartoonist. I am not employed by a newspaper. I am nationally syndicated, but I am not with a major syndicate. In 2013, I left Creators Syndicate to represent myself. I wanted more control over my work and for it to be sold individually, not with a package. When editors subscribe to my work, they're buying just my work.

Finalist

2018

Editorial Cartoonist for The Boston Globe

Ward Sutton has been creating biting editorial cartoons for The Boston Globe since 2008. He experiments with size and format, often producing multi-panel cartoons that can read like a graphic novel. In 2010, his full-page “Tea Party Comics” won a gold medal from the Society of Publication Designers.

Winner
illustrator, caricaturist and political commentator

. . . is an illustrator, caricaturist and political commentator working for publications in the US since the 1970s. He is accepted in the fields of journalism and the graphic arts as a master of the editorial idiom.

Finalist

2017

Author of "Tom the Dancing Bug"

Ruben Bolling is the author of the weekly comic strip “Tom the Dancing Bug,” distributed by Andrews McMeel Syndication to many newspapers across North America It also appears on: BoingBoing.net, one of the most linked-to websites in the world; DailyKos.com, the U.S.’s largest progressive blog; and Gocomics.com, the largest comic strip website.

Winner
Indian Country Today Media Network

Marty Two Bulls Sr. is an Oglala Lakota originally from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. He spent his childhood in Rapid City, South Dakota and was graduated from Rapid City’s Central High School in 1981. He attended college in Denver at the Colorado Institute of Art, which gave him the technical skills to land a job in his hometown with the local television station, a NBC affiliate, as an assistant to the art director. It was at his high school newspaper (the…

Finalist

2016

Self Syndicated

Mark Fiore, who the Wall Street Journal has called “the undisputed guru of the form,” creates animated political cartoons in San Francisco, one of the most fertile regions for creating political animation and cartoons. His work has appeared on the San Francisco Chronicle’s web site, Newsweek.com, Slate.com, CBSNews.com, MotherJones.com, NPR’s web site and is currently being featured on online news sites ranging from KQED and Truthdig.com to The Progressive and DailyKos.com. Fiore’s…

Winner
Author of the Weekly Comic Strip “Tom the Dancing Bug”
Ruben Bolling is the author of the weekly comic strip “Tom the Dancing Bug,” distributed by Universal Uclick Syndicate to many newspapers across North America. “Tom the Dancing Bug” also is featured every week on websites associated with newspapers, such as WashingtonPost.com.  It also appears on:  BoingBoing.net, one of the most linked-to websites in the world; DailyKos.com, the U.S.’s largest progressive blog; and Gocomics.com, the largest comic strip website.
Finalist

2015

Editorial cartoonist for The Baltimore Sun and The Economist
Kevin Kallaugher (KAL) is an international award winning editorial cartoonist for The Baltimore Sun and The Economist magazine of London.  In a distinguished career that spans more than 36 years, KAL has created over 8,000 cartoons and 140 magazine covers. His resume includes six collections of his published work, seven international honors and awards, and major exhibitions in a dozen countries. 
Winner
Editorial Cartoonist for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Luckovich began his career with The Greenville News in South Carolina in 1984, and moved to the New Orleans Times-Picayune later that year. In 1989 he began his career with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that continues to today.

Finalist

2014

The Austin Chronicle
Jen Sorensen’s cartoons appear in approximately twenty alternative newspapers, including her local weekly, The Austin Chronicle. They are published regularly in The Nation, Ms. Magazine, The Progressive,Politico, and on a variety of websites, including Daily Kos and NPR.org. Her political cartoon, known as “Slowpoke” from 1998 until 2012 but now simply goes by own name, has been recognized six times by the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies Awards and received the 2009 Grambs Aronson Award…
Winner
Editorial Cartoonist for The Chattanooga Times Free Press
Born January 20, 1958 in Clinton South Carolina. As the son of a career army officer, Bennett led a nomadic life, attending ten different schools before graduating in 1976 from S.R. Butler High in Huntsville, Alabama. He served as editorial cartoonist for his college newspaper and managing editor of the alternative student paper while attending the University of North Alabama where he graduated in 1980 with degrees in art and history.
Finalist

2013

Creator of This Modern World
Tom Tomorrow (Dan Perkins) lives outside of New Haven, Connecticut with his wife and their nine year old son.  His weekly cartoon, This Modern World,  appears on Daily Kos, where he is also editor of the comics section he created in April of 2011 in an attempt to provide a new, online venue for political cartooning.  This Modern World also appears at TheNation.com and in approximately 80 papers across the country, including the Village Voice, the San Francisco Bay Guardian, and the Pittsburgh…
Winner
Editorial Cartoonist for The Sacramento Bee
Jack Ohman is the editorial cartoonist for The Sacramento Bee. Previously, he worked for The Oregonian, the Detroit Free Press, and The Columbus Dispatch. His work is syndicated to 200 newspapers by Tribune Media Services. He was born on September 1, 1960, in St. Paul, Minnesota. He attended the University of Minnesota, where he worked for three years on The Minnesota Daily.
Finalist

2012

Cartoonist, Journalist and Editor
Matt Bors is a cartoonist, journalist and editor based in Portland, Ore., who relentlessly skewers the latest absurdities in American politics and culture. From recession woes to social networking, Bors’ cartoons dissect and satirize the ways of the world to make readers think and laugh about the real issues affecting them. “I like to use news events as a jumping-off point for a discussion,” Bors says. “So I try to avoid the obvious gags and get at the underlying issues.”
Winner
Jensorensen.com
Jen Sorensen’s comics have appeared in the Village Voice, Los Angeles Times, Daily Kos, The Progressive, NPR.org, Ms. Magazine, The American Prospect,The Oregonian, the Women’s Review of Books, and dozens of alternative newspapers around the country. Her political cartoon “Slowpoke,” which she has drawn since 1998, has been recognized six times by the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies Awards, and received the 2009 Grambs Aronson Award for Cartooning with a Conscience from Hunter College…
Finalist

2011

Editorial Cartoonist for The Washington Post
Tom Toles is the Editorial Cartoonist for The Washington Post, a position he has held since 2002. He previously served as Editorial Cartoonist for The Buffalo News, The Buffalo Courier-Express, The New York Daily News, The New Republic magazine, and US News and World Report.
Winner
Editorial Cartoonist for The Washington Post
Ann Telnaes’ animated editorial cartoons are posted every Monday, Wednesday and Friday on The Washington Post’s website. Telnaes’work was shown in a solo exhibition at the Great Hall in the Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress in 2004. Her first book, “Humor’s Edge,” was published by Pomegranate Press and the Library of Congress in 2004. A collection of Vice President Cheney cartoons, “Dick,” was self-published by Telnaes in 2006. Her work has also been exhibited in Paris,…
Finalist

2010

Editorial cartoonist for Politico
Washington, DC, Feb. 17, 2010 - Matt Wuerker, editorial cartoonist for Politico, today was named the winner of the 2010 Herblock Prize. The prize is awarded annually by The Herb Block Foundation for "distinguished examples of editorial cartooning that exemplify the courageous standard set by Herblock." Wuerker will receive the Prize April 15 at the Library of Congress. The winner receives a $15,000 after-tax cash prize and a sterling silver Tiffany trophy.
Winner

2009

Cartoonist for The Salt Lake Tribune

Bagley grew up in a Republican family in Southern California where his father was mayor of Oceanside, the sprawling Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base. He remained a Republican until the election of President George W. Bush. "He radicalized me," Bagley says of Bush.

Winner

2008

The Camera of Boulder, Colorado

Sherffius won this year's prize for a package of cartoons that chronicled the Bush Administration over the past year, a package of searing cartoons dealing with subjects ranging from torture and wiretapping to the escalation of the war in Iraq and the administration's approach to global warning.

Winner

2007

Miami Herald

"Political cartoons, unlike sundials, do not show the brightest hours," Herblock once wrote. "They often show the darkest ones in the hope of helping us move to brighter times."

It is in that spirit that this year's judges awarded the 2007 Herblock Prize to Morin whose own interest in editorial cartooning began in earnest with the Watergate scandals.

Winner

2006

Rutland Herald in Rutland, Vt.

Herblock once described editorial cartooning as "an irreverent form of expression, and one particularly suited to scoffing at the high and mighty. If the prime role of a free press is to serve as critic of government, cartooning is often the cutting edge of that criticism."

It was in that spirit that the judges of this year's contest selected Danziger, whose cartoons, in addition to appearing in the Rutland Herald, are distributed to 100 other newspapers both in the U.S…

Winner

2005

The Philadelphia Inquirer
"Tony Auth's optimistic perspective that things can get better if we work at them places him squarely as an heir of Herblock's legacy." said Lucy Caswell, curator of the Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library. Caswell was one of three judges for this year's contest. The other two judges were Harry Katz, curator of the Herblock archives and former head curator of the prints and photos division of the Library of Congress, and Matt Davies, editorial cartoonist for the Journal News of…
Winner

2004

Journal News of Westchester County, N.Y.
Matt Davies of the Journal News of Westchester County, N.Y. is the winner of the first Herblock Prize for editorial cartooning. Davies was born in London, England, and moved with his family to the U.S. in 1983 when he was 17. He attended both the Savannah College of Art & Design and the School of Visual Arts in New York City.
Winner