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.
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.
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.
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