San
Diego cartoonist Steve Breen wins second Pulitzer, other awards
Steve Breen, the editorial cartoonist for The San Diego Union-Tribune, has won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning. It was only the second time his newspaper has been awarded journalism's highest honor and the second for Breen himself; he won while at the Asbury Park Press in New Jersey in 1998.
In awarding the prize, judges noted Breen's “agile use of a classic style to produce wide ranging cartoons that engage readers with power, clarity and humor.”
Breen got the news of his second Pulitzer in a manner made for one of his cartoons. He was looking under a hotel room couch in Hawaii for his daughter's sandals as the family was preparing to head home after a week-long vacation.
In a phone interview, he said: “I'm fully aware that not every cartoon is Pulitzer material. That said, I'm proud of my Pulitzer portfolio, the 20 that got judged.”
Editorial page editor Bob Kittle called Breen on his cell phone with the news after Robert York, senior editor/visuals, walked into the editorial board's Monday morning meeting and told everyone.
Kittle said Breen thought he was joking and “was very humble about it.”
Outgoing publisher David Copley, who recently sold the newspaper, congratulated Breen via speaker phone, Kittle said.
“His great gift is to target someone but not be mean-spirited about it,” Kittle added. “This happens with Steve a lot. The people whom he targets in a cartoon, whom he criticizes, they call him asking for the original.”
His interest in foreign affairs fueled his career.
“I developed my love for the news because of my love for international news,” Breen said. “When I was starting out in 1988, I was doing cartoons on President George H. W. Bush, Iraq and the fall of Soviet Union.”
Breen was born in Los Angeles in 1970 and grew up in Orange County, the second-oldest of eight children. He was about to become a high school history teacher when the Asbury Park Press offered him a job in the art department in July 1994. He became the full-time editorial cartoonist there in 1996 and won the Pulitzer prize two years later. He joined the Union-Tribune in 2001.
Also nominated as finalists in the Editorial Cartooning category were: Mike Thompson of the Detroit Free Press for his “compelling collection of print and animated cartoons that blend the great traditions of the craft with new online possibilities”; and Matt Wuerker of Politico for his “engaging mix of art and ideas, resulting in cleverly conceived cartoons that persuade rather than rant and that sometimes use animation to widen their impact.”
This was Thompson's third time as a finalist, and the first for Wuerker.
Thomas Nast Award
Two days after learning he had won the Pulitzer, Breen was honored with the Overseas Press Club's Thomas Nast Award for the best cartoons on international affairs.
The judges noted Steve's “strong graphics, subtle messages and a sense of fun are in the DNA of Breen's cartoons, but ... he also delivers directness and a clear point of view. His work is simple, but superb.”
Kevin Kallaugher, cartoonist for The Economist, received a citation in the category.
National Headliner Award
Finally, Steve Breen was the winner of this year's National Headliner Award for Editorial Cartooning, presented by the Press Club of Atlantic City. Don Asmussen, of the San Francisco Chronicle, took Second place and Clay Bennett, of the Chattanooga Times Free Press, took Third.
—Sources: Union-Tribune, Daily Cartoonist. JP Trostle contributed,
