Cartoonists Rights Network International opens nominations as we prepare to once again recognize the exemplary bravery of a cartoonist facing threats to their human rights.
CRNI presents its award to cartoonists who have in the prior twelve months shown remarkable courage while suffering a violation of their human rights, especially their freedom of expression as defined by Article 19 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights. Specifically:
- physical violence, or the threat of violence, to self or family
- criminalization e.g. charges of sedition, “insult” to the state etcetera
- arrest, detention or imprisonment by police, military personnel or immigration officers
- forced displacement from home
- censorship
- vexatious litigation (“SLAPP” suits)
- online harassment e.g. hacking, DDoS attacks, mass trolling etcetera
- verbal or physical abuse or intimidation based on age, gender, race or sexual orientation
Last year, our partners in Geneva – the Freedom Cartoonists Foundation – gave their inaugural Kofi Annan Courage in Cartooning Award to Vladimir Kazanevsky (Ukraine) and Gábor Pápai (Hungary). You can learn more about the winners here. The two awards alternate biannually, and so in 2023 it falls to us to present a Robert Russell Courage in Cartooning Award, named after our founder.
In their correspondence nominators may wish to consider cartoonists facing sustained police and judicial harassment, those who have fled into exile, or those threatened with violence. Also noteworthy are the continuing and widespread suppression of artistic and critical voices in Afghanistan, Cuba, Iran, and Russia, among other locations.
Email us your Courage Award nomination
Your email should contain a brief description of the problems faced by the cartoonist. And if possible please include contact information for them, a family member or other representative. The cut-off date for nominations is Friday, March 17th at 12.00 EST
CRNI’s Board of Directors will consider the nominees and select a recipient. The award’s announcement and presentation will take place at a date and time to be confirmed later this year.
Note: CRNI does not present its award to a cartoon in recognition of its excellence and so is not seeking the submission of cartoons about freedom of expression or threats to it. We are concerned solely with cartoonists’ human rights. Therefore CRNI makes no comment on their professional status or the aesthetic merit of their work. However we will not consider cartoonists whose output advocates violence, nor evidences hate speech.
