cartoonists

Women Cartoonists International Award Winners Announced

United Sketches confirms the jury’s selection in the Grand Prize, Youth Award and Award of Excellence categories of the first Prix International Des Dessinatrices De Presse.

United Sketches, Women Cartoonists International Awards, Grand Prix & Youth Winners
United Sketches, Women Cartoonists International Award, Grand Prix & Youth Winners

The two main winners are confirmed as Doaa Eladl (Egypt) and Camila de la Fuente (Venezuela/Mexico).

Both women are superb cartoonists and we are pleased to see them recognised in this inaugural award. Ms de la Fuente is a particularly impressive individual and we look forward to working with her in the future, as she has recently assented to serving as a regional representative for CRNI with the remit for Central America. Ms Eladl’s work has special significance for us; she penned the Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Fellowship Awards in 2019 and it was the piece of artwork CRNI won there that was presented to our founder upon his retirement last September.

United Sketches, Women Cartoonists International Awards, Excellence Winners
United Sketches, Women Cartoonists International Award, Excellence Winners

Seven further cartoonists receive an Award of Excellence: Sepideh Aghaei (Iran); Mansoure Dehghani (Iran); Firoozeh Mozaffari (Iran); Elena Ospina (Colombia); Cristina Sampaio (Portugal); Mahnaz Yazdani (Iran); and Nahid Zamani (Iran).

As we said at the time of the scheme’s launch, generally speaking CRNI does not concern itself with the vital but very crowded field of international cartoon contests, festivals and prizes. However as a human rights organisation we recognise absolutely the need to address inequality wherever it exists. In short, women’s rights are human rights and vice versa. Unlike some we reject the contention that goodwill and meritocracy alone will redress the imbalance in a profession that remains stubbornly male. Additional affirmative action is required. Therefore we commend United Sketches in its effort, thank the jurors and all those who have supported and sponsored it – Le Mémorial de Caen, Child Rights International Network, Micro Galleries & ActuBD – and congratulate all finalists.

Special mention should be made of the youngest entrant, Arianna Brugnoni of Italy. It is with girls like Arianna in mind and in the hope that they are encouraged to draw and share cartoons about the issues that matter most to them that the award was conceived.

 To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network International

Statement: support the Women Cartoonists International Award

Our longtime friend and colleague Kianoush Ramanzani has, through his organization United Sketches, announced the creation of a new cartooning award specifically for women: the Women Cartoonists International Award.

UPDATE! The award offers two prizes: a €3,000 Grand Prix and another of €1,500 for cartoonists under 26 years of age.

While we normally don’t promote every cartooning contest that comes to our inbox, Deputy Exec. Director Terry Anderson and I concur that this is something singularly important. Women cartoonists, who normally occupy less than 5% of the political cartooning community in recent years have nonetheless emerged as some of the most powerful and effective image-makers in the world. They have carved out a new space for their voices with sharp elbows and sharper pens, especially during and after the Arab Spring movement as well as in Southern Asia.

It is completely appropriate that women have their own exhibitions, their own contests and their own award ceremonies.  This competition brings their work not only to the attention of the world but to the attention of the greater cartooning community – especially editors and publishers who are left the poorer if they don’t make space for a diverse range of creative perspectives.

We endorse the competition and invite other cartooning organizations to join with us in celebrating this new effort in recognition of the importance of the satirical voice of 50% of the population.  Not simply because they are women, but because they are superb communicators. 

If anyone would like to send funds to help in establishing this competition please donate directly to United Sketches or send it to us (the Donate button can be found to the right) earmarked for Women’s Cartoonists International Award. We will make sure your pledge goes straight to the organizers without any administrative costs taken out.

Dr. Robert “Bro” Russell, Executive Director

 To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network International

United Sketches announces new award for women cartoonists

An exciting initiative for the promotion of under-represented cartoonists and celebration of their work.

United Sketches, the organisation for refugee and displaced cartoonists established by our friend and colleague Kianoush Ramezani, has announced a new cartooning award dedicated exclusively to women.

The Prix International Des Dessinatrices De Presse has been created in consultation with a committee of women cartoonists, including CRNI supporter Ann Telnaes, and will be judged by an all-female panel from across multiple professions. Cartoonists are invited to submit work on the themes of “Climate Change” and “Equality”. The deadline is August 31st 2019. Full details of how to submit cartoons, the judging process and future plans for the cartoons are available online.

FULL CONTEST DETAILS

“… equality is still a dream to be achieved in the 21st century! United Sketches international organization offers this annual award exclusively to women cartoonists to fight patriarchy and inequality.”

United Sketches

Generally speaking CRNI does not concern itself with the vital but very crowded field of international cartoon contests, festivals and prizes. However as a human rights organisation we recognise absolutely the need to address inequality wherever it exists. In short, women’s rights are human rights. Unlike some we reject the contention that goodwill and meritocracy alone will redress the imbalance in a profession that remains stubbornly male. Affirmative action is required. We commend United Sketches in their effort and wish those entering every success.

UPDATE! The award offers two prizes: a €3,000 Grand Prix and another of €1,500 for cartoonists under 26 years of age.

 To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network International

CRNI workshops currently taking place

CRNI in partnership with the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is sponsoring some incredible workshops in Africa, South Africa and Palestine. These workshops will engage future cartoonists and empower current cartoonists.

Palestine workshop leader, Mohammad Sabaaneh, hopes that in conjunction with the Freedom Theater, they will enhance undergraduate’s awareness and knowledge of the importance of  cartooning as an indicator for the democracy and freedom of speech. The workshops will take place over a series of weekends in September.  Mohammed has been a client of CRNI for about five years. He was imprisoned by the Israeli Defense forces and held incognito for about a year, we advocated for his release with other organizations and he was finally released. He has published a number of cartoon books of his work, and in 2015 he became one of our regional representatives representing Palestine and the Middle East. He is known as an equal opportunity critic, often being in as much trouble with the Israelis as with Hamas or with the PLO.  The Freedom Theatre offers a range of cultural activities, including drama workshops, theater performances, a three-year professional theater school and training in stage management; photography, film making and creative writing. 

On September 26th, Accra workshop leader, Ike Essilfie-Essel, is bringing awareness to the global violation of human rights and equipping cartoonists with the knowledge and tools to maintain their safety. Ike Essel, is an old friend with CRNI. More than a decade ago, Ike helped organize the very first meeting of all the major and minor cartoonists in Ghana. Sponsored by Cartoonists Rights Network, the workshop brought together the young, upcoming cartoonists with their cartoonist heroes.  The chance for them to meet with each other for the first time was a life-changing experience for most of them.  Because of the meeting they could all put faces to the cartoons that they adored and saw every day and suddenly a new network of cartoonists was pulled together, Cartoonists Ghana.

On September 9th & 10th, Cape Town workshop leader John Curtis,  will host a panel discussion and workshop for South African editorial cartoonists, who face increasing threats to their  freedom of expression, impacting their ability to hold powerful individuals accountable, implement social justice and uphold democratic principles. Curtis is hosting this workshop in conjunction with Cape Town’s annual Open Book Festival’s Comic Fest . Curtis is an award winning editorial cartoonist, who founded Africartoons nine years ago, on Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday.  Africartoons hosts a network of professional and amateur cartoonists, the largest online archive of African  editorial cartoons (25,000+) and 720,000 Facebook followers.

A huge thank you to the National Endowment for Democracy for partnering with CRNI on this endeavor as it implements our strategy to help young emerging cartooning organizations develop themselves administratively and conceptually.

Zunar arrested for 2nd time in 3 weeks

UPDATE: Zunar is following police instructions pertaining to his recent arrests in both Penang and Kuala Lumpur while legal challenges to the charges against him continue.

UPDATE: Zunar has been released and wrote to supporters as follows:

Today, 17 dec 2016, I was arrested again by the police during my fund-raising program with the fans. The purpose of this fund-raising is to recover the loss that I had with my previous exhibition where twenty (20) of my paintings were confiscated by the police and taken into their custody, causing losses of estimated USD10,000.00.
Today the police also confiscated more than 1,000 books which involved twelve (12) titles, causing another losses of estimated USD10,000.00.  Two of my assistants were arrested together with two fans. We were taken to the police station and investigated under Section 124 of the Penal Code for being detrimental to parliamentary democracy, carrying a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.
I was questioned for almost 6 hours and released under bail at midnight. I would have to report back to the police station on the 30 Dec 2016.
According to the police, they will apply a law to ban all my books.
This is my second arrest within three (3) weeks. On 25th Nov 2016, I was arrested under the Sedition Act.
This adds up to the long list of harrassments and intimidation by the Malaysian government to me.
The pattern is directly proportionate to the increased level of corruption and injustices in Malaysia. Corrupt government fears cartoons.
I would like to point out my stand: talent is not a gift, but a responsibility. It is my responsibility as a cartoonist to expose corruption and injustices. Do I fear jail? Yes, but responsibility is bigger that fear. You can ban my books, you can ban my cartoons, but you cannot ban my mind. I will keep drawing until the last drop of my ink.

The police comment about a blanket ban on all books is of particular and grave concern and taken together with the incidents mentioned above and detailed below it seems clear that the Malaysian state is now intent upon the destruction of Zunar’s career.

Malaysian cartoonist Zunar’s Twitter feed confirms that he was placed under arrest during a public event today in Kuala Lumpur.


Zunar is contesting legal battles on multiple fronts and had been in the midst of a fund-raising Saturday afternoon tea party with supporters, hence the additional seizure of books worth about $6.5k, a clear attempt to deny him income and in itself a well-worn tactic employed against him by agents of the state over the last decade.

As we have reported of late, Zunar is currently unable to leave Malaysia, was placed under police arrest at the end of November after an exhibition in Penang was disrupted by pro-government protestors and he is preparing for a court appearance  to challenge the Sedition Act, the ultimate weapon of the Malaysian government which is seeking to imprison him for the rest of his natural life.

Zunar’s recent woes precipitated a statement of solidarity from several of the world’s leading editorial cartoonists; this latest instance of harassment will only redouble the outrage felt by his colleagues. One again CRNI calls for his immediate release and safety in which to continue speaking truth to power.

 To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network

To Donate to Cartoonist Rights Network Click Here

CRNI
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram

Our awards-giving partners, Freedom Cartoonists Foundation, Geneva

Categories

GDPR

Visitors to this site based in the EU – please be aware this site uses Cookies. Full details in our Privacy Policy.

CARTOONISTS RIGHTS
DEFENDING CARTOONISTS ON THE FRONTLINES OF FREE SPEECH