PR: 2020 Herblock Prize & Lecture awarded to Michael de Adder; Matt Lubchansky is finalist

For Immediate Release

WASHINGTON, DC, Wednesday March 4, 2020 – Michael de Adder is the 2020 Herblock Prize winner for editorial cartooning.

Michael de Adder has won numerous awards for his work including seven Atlantic Journalism Awards plus a Gold Innovation Award for news animation in 2008. He won the Association of Editorial Cartoonists' 2002 Golden Spike Award for best editorial cartoon spiked by an editor and the Association of Canadian cartoonists 2014 Townsend Award. He has been nominated for four National Newspaper Awards and was shortlisted by the National Cartoonists Society for the Reuben Award in Editorial Cartoon category.

Michael de Adder was born in Moncton, New Brunswick. He studied art at Mount Allison University where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in drawing and painting. He began his career working for The Coast, a Halifax-based alternative weekly, drawing a popular comic strip called Walterworld which lampooned the then-current mayor of Halifax, Walter Fitzgerald. This led to freelance jobs at The Chronicle-Herald and The Hill Times in Ottawa, Ontario. After freelancing for a few years, he landed his first full time cartooning job at the Halifax Daily News. 

After the Daily News folded in 2008, de Adder became the full-time freelance cartoonist at New Brunswick Publishing. He was let go in 2019 for his political views with one of these being his cartoons depicting U.S. President Donald Trump's boarder policies. Currently, de Adder works for Counterpoint, a United States based newsletter that celebrates a diverse field of cartoonists from different political perspectives as well as the Toronto Star and the Halifax Chronicle Herald.

He has over a million readers per day and is considered the most read cartoonist in Canada.  He is a past president of the Association of Canadian Editorial Cartoonists and spent five years on the board of the Cartoonists Rights Network.

The Herblock Prize is awarded annually by The Herb Block Foundation for "distinguished examples of editorial cartooning that exemplify the courageous independent standard set by Herblock." The winner receives a $15,000 after-tax cash prize and a sterling silver Tiffany trophy. Michael de Adder will receive the Prize on April 6th in a ceremony held at the Library of Congress. Jose Andres, chef and founder of World Central Kitchen (WCK) a non-profit devoted to providing meals in the wake of natural disasters, will deliver the annual Herblock Lecture at the awards ceremony.

This year's judges were Dan Perkins, pen name Tom Tomorrow, creator of the weekly political cartoon "This Modern World" and winner of the 2013 Herblock Prize; Michael Rhode, archivist and author, commentator on comics for the Washington City Paper and creator of the ComicsDC blog; and Eric Shansby, American cartoonist and children's book illustrator whose work appeared most prominently in The Washington Post.

The judges noted "There were many strong submissions in this moment of political crisis in America. The judges ultimately chose Michael de Adder for his elegant yet concise draftsmanship and his ability to distill complex issues into impactful visual statements. De Adder, who recently lost his job due to criticism of the American president, embodies Herblock's standard of courageous independence, as defined in the award."

The Herblock finalist for 2020 is Matt Lubchansky who will receive a $5,000 after-tax cash prize. The judges said "Matt Lubchansky is an up-and-coming artist whose work exemplifies the cadence and structure of a new generation. Their work was distinguished by a wide diversity of subject matter and a cleverly askew sense of humor."

The Herb Block Foundation seeks to further the recognition and support of editorial cartooning: www.herbblockfoundation.org.; https://www.herbblockfoundation.org/editorial-cartooning ;   http://www.scholastic.com/herblock/ ; https://www.artandwriting.org/scholarships/scholarships-special-achievement-awards/editorial-cartoon/

Sarah Alex

Executive Director

The Herb Block Foundation

1730 M Street, NW Suite #1020

Washington, DC 20036

(w) 202-223-8801

Meet a Local Cartoonist: A Chat with Clay Jones

2019 Herblock award, photo by Bruce Guthrie

 by Mike Rhode

Clay Jones is a long-time political cartoonist who also writes an amazingly hardest hitting blog about his cartoons. Here's some quotes from just the past few days:

  -"Graham and McConnell have no problems being hypocrites and telling us out loud that they plan to conduct a sham of a trial." (Premature Republicans)

   -"If Santa was planning to land his endangered reindeer on the Trump’s roof, the only thing that’d stop the Trump boys from killing them would be if they couldn’t get a guide to hold their hands. You know they’re too wimpy to climb up there on their own." (Run, Run, Rudolph)

  -"And if you’re supporting Donald Trump, a bad guy bullying a child, you’re one of the bad guys fighting against America and the rest of the planet too." (Mean Girl Hurts Trump)

Honestly, these days I often read past the cartoon quickly just  to read his commentary.

Clay moved from Fredericksburg, VA (which is technically in our coverage area, but...) to Woodbridge, VA (which definitely is...), was the finalist for 2019's Herblock Award (there's an autobio at that link), has a regular cartoon gig for CNN, and has a new book of his Trump cartoons out, and I'm finally getting around to interviewing him. I apologize to both him and our readers for the delay. As you'll read, he's completely self-syndicated now and you can support him directly.

What type of comic work or cartooning do you do?

I am a political cartoonist.

How do you do it? Traditional pen and ink, computer or a combination?

I went fully digital in May 2016. I'm now on my second Surface Pro.

When (within a decade is fine) and where were you born?

I was born in Fort Hood, TX in 1966.

Why are you in Washington now?  What neighborhood or area do you live in?

I moved to Fredericksburg in 1998 to work for The Free Lance-Star. I stayed in the area after I was laid off in 2012. I moved to Woodbridge two months ago to live in sin with my girlfriend.

What is your training and/or education in cartooning?

I took a few art classes but failed the last one I took in high school. Can you tell? From there it's been trial, error, a little plagiarism, etc, etc.

Who are your influences?

As a cartoonist, Sergio Aragones, Mort Drucker, Don Martin (you can tell), Jim Davis, Charles Schulz, and Berke Breathed. As a political cartoonist, Mike Luckovich, Mike Peters, Paul Conrad, Herblock, Bill Mauldin, Pat Oliphant, Jeff MacNelly, Walt Handelsman, Michael Ramirez (really), and Scott Stantis. Some of these political influences have worn off me over time.

If you could, what in your career would you do-over or change?

If I realized how much I sucked when I was younger, I wouldn't have done that.

What work are you best-known for?

At this time, probably for drawing Donald Trump's hair and tie. I also get a lot of comments on the way I draw his mouth.

What work are you most proud of?

Any cartoon that really pisses off the Trump cult.

What would you like to do or work on in the future?

I would like to work at another news outlet in a fantasyland where they let me draw anything I want, pay me well, and leave me alone.

What do you do when you're in a rut or have writer's block?

I don't have time for writer's block. I tell it to go away and power through. Honestly, I try to think what Mike Luckovich or Peters would do, then I try to do something weirder.

Cover of his new book

What do you think will be the future of your field?

Fewer jobs for sure even though that's not justified. We'll still be here but there will be fewer of us. Fewer people will enter a profession that doesn't reward or pay them. Most of us still in it are hangovers from when they used to give us jobs with benefits, vacations, 401Ks and stuff. Most people who do this in the future will have to commit while being distracted by a real job. That will affect the quality.

I'm also afraid publications will get even safer and more afraid to publish anything challenging or critical of anything.

What local cons do you attend? The Small Press Expo, Awesome Con, or others? Any comments about attending them?

I never had until recently when my girlfriend (the one I'm living in sin with in Woodbridge) took me to the Fairfax ComicCon. It was OK. I'm really not that big of a comic fan. I usually only read political cartoons, party because I'm a fan and partly to see that I don't draw the same idea as someone else.

Jones, Matt Davies and Matt Wuerker, photo by Guthrie

What's your favorite thing about DC?

Food, the diversity, the liberalness, the metro, food trucks, The Post and Politico, the people, culture, museums, history, political bars, and some stuff I'll think of later.

Least favorite?

It's expensive.

What monument or museum do you like to take visitors to?

All of them but my favorite thing is to take a visitor from the Roosevelt and walk them around the tidal basin to the Jefferson.

How about a favorite local restaurant?

Food trucks and hotdog stands. Mmm Mmmmm MMmmmmm. I also enjoy eating things I can't identify in Chinatown.

Do you have a website or blog?

Yes. Do you want to know the address? OK. claytoonz.com. You'll see cartoons, a blog for each cartoon, and even a video where you get to see me draw the cartoon. It's the best political cartoon blog by any self-syndicated political cartoonist.

Clay also posts his drawing videos on YouTube, rough sketches of ideas for CNN, and at least one cartoon a day and often more via his blog and email newsletter. And who can resist closing an internet story with a comparison to Nazis?

PR: New political cartoon book from Clay Jones

Impeach This Book! Cartoonist Clay Jones collects his smartest, funniest Donald Trump cartoons in one ridiculously long-tied, deluxe volume!

 

(IMPEACHMENT DAY, November 13, 2019) -- Editorial cartoonist ClayJones has been drawing the world around him for more than two decades, but his style and humor caught fire at the beginning of the Trump Administration.

An award-winning artist whose work is seen on CNN as well as newspapers and news sites across the United States and beyond, Jones collected his best Trump-related 'toons in one full-color, 270-page deluxe collection titled Tales From the Trumpster Fire: A Cartoon Anthology ($39.95US; Mr. Media Books, 2019).

Among his fans, Jones is perhaps best known for distinctive north and south caricature of Donald J. Trump: the hair goes on and on to the north while the ever-present red tie flows ever-further south. The book features a Foreword by fellow editorial cartoonist Matt Davies and endorsements from TV personality Rosie O'Donnell and fellow cartoonists Ann Telnaes and Mike Peters.

Clay Jones is a self-syndicated political cartoonist whose work is distributed to newspapers and news sites across the United States and around the world. He also draws a weekly cartoon for CNN Opinion’s weekly newsletter, Provoke/Persuade. Clay was represented by Creators Syndicate (2000-13) until he left to start his own syndicate. His career began in 1990 at The Panolian, a weekly newspaper in Batesville, Mississippi. Clay also worked for the Daily Leader in Brookhaven, Mississippi, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, and The Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He previously worked as a freelance cartoonist for The Daily Dot, The Seattle Times and The Costa Rica Star.

Clay won “Best Cartoon” in the National Newspaper Association’s Better Newspaper Contest (2018), as well as several state awards in Mississippi, Hawaii and Virginia. Additionally, he was the finalist for the Herblock Award (2019), and rejected a weird “free speech” award from the government of Iran.

A collection of his work is archived at the Mattie Sink Memorial Library at Mississippi State University. An early collection of his cartoons, titled “Knee-Deep inMississippi,” was distributed by Pelican Publishing (1997). And his work was displayed in an exhibit at the Jewish Museum Berlin (2017).

His daily cartoons are featured in about 50 newspapers and have been reprinted in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, The Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Dallas Morning News, the Winnipeg Free Press, the Ottawa Citizen, the Daily Beast, BuzzFeed, Newsweek and Time Magazine. They’ve been seen on CNN, MSNBC and C-SPAN.

Clay plays and writes 90s-style alt-rock on guitar. He released the album “No Thanks To Hancock” with the band Corporate T-Shirt.

He lives somewhere in the Washington, D.C, suburbs of Northern Virginia.

Mr. Media Books is an independent publisher known for its wide array of unrelated titles, from business titles such as Mean Business by “Chainsaw” Al Dunlap and Determined by Atlanta business legend Felker Ward to You’ll Need a Guide by Marshall Craig and the pulp fantasy noir series Tales of the Annigan Cycle (imagine if Edgar Rice Burroughs collaborated with Quentin Tarantino). The St. Petersburg, Florida-based imprint, started by writer Bob Andelman in 2014, also published the politically brutal humor of The Wages of Sin by cartoonist Keith Brown.

www.MrMediaBooks.com