AAEC News

Congrats to JD Crowe, this year's Rex Babin Award winner

 

 

SACRAMENTO, CA — Alabama cartoonist JD Crowe is the 2018 recipient of the "Rex Babin Memorial Award for Local Cartooning." The prize was announced Thursday, Sept. 2o, during the opening reception of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists' convention in Sacramento, CA. The reception was held at the California Museum, which is hosting a retrospective of Babin's artwork.

 

Jack Ohman, Babin's long-time friend and successor to his staff position at the Bee, noted "For decades, JD Crowe has been drawing fresh, original, pungent, brutal, and thought-provoking local cartoons. He is universally respected by his peers for his work, and for me, it is a wonderful moment to be able to honor our colleague and friend with this award named after his great friend Rex."

 

 

Crowe and Babin became friends as they jumped from paper to paper in the 1990s, and, according to some cartoonists who knew them, influenced each other's work, pushing themselves to develop cartooning styles unlike anyone else in the industry.

 

"Nobody draws like JD Crowe," said JP Trostle, a judge on this year's panel. "His work is painterly — dark and twisted, like Francis Bacon — but funny. His caricature of Roy Moore is one for the ages." 

 

 

Originally from Kentucky, Crowe attended Eastern Kentucky University and studied painting, journalism, and design. He won the state's top collegiate journalism awards for his editorial cartoons in the university newspaper, The Eastern Progress, in 1980 and 1981. He landed at Fort Worth Star-Telegram in 1982, first as a staff artist, then as editorial cartoonist in 1983, before moving to San Diego in 1987 where he was hired to draw for the (now-defunct) Tribune. 

 

He then bounced around the country drawing political cartoons for the Los Angeles Times, Sacramento Bee, San Francisco Examiner, and the alt-weekly San Diego Reader from 1992 until he joined the Mobile Press-Register in 2000. 

 

 

For the last 18 years, Crowe has been the self-described "moderately disturbed dorky cartoonist" for Alabama Media Group and AL.com. "And then 2017 happened. Alabama’s crazy special election to fill a U.S. Senate seat collided with the #MeToo movement, and our state’s most notorious politician was loose in the national spotlight," Crowe said. "My mission was to inspire folks who routinely sit out elections to get out, get involved and save our state from further embarrassment." 

 

 

Dwane Powell, the first winner of the award, and a judge for this year's contest, said, "The entries for the second Rex Babin Award were indeed exceptional. That said, with an original, biting, creative, and yes, quirky approach to his art, J.D. Crowe dealt with some downright crazy Alabama politicos and issues that had national ramifications, and knocked them out of the park."

 

 

The AAEC established the award to honor the life and career of the political cartoonist Rex Babin. The editorial cartoonist for the Albany Times-Union and The Sacramento Bee, passed away in 2012 at age 49 following a long fight with cancer. He was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2003, and received the Berryman Award from the National Press Foundation the same year. His fellow cartoonists elected him President of the AAEC in 2009, and he was honored posthumously with the Mark Twain Award for Journalistic Excellence in 2015.

 

 

The retrospective of the late cartoonist's work will be on exhibit at the California Museum through Oct. 14, 2018. For more information on "Drawing Caleeforneeya: Political Cartoons of Rex Babin," go to https://www.californiamuseum.org/rex-babin

 

For more information on the Rex Babin Award, contact Jack Ohman at jackin60@gmail.com or JP Trostle at jape@nc.rr.com.

 

Rex Babin Award nominee #37 — Signe Wilkinson

Signe Wilkinson is as much a part of the Philadelphia landscape as Robert Indiana's LOVE sculpture, Pat's Philly Cheesesteaks, and running up the steps of the Museum of Art just like Rocky does in the movie. While her work for The Daily News earned her the Pulitzer Prize for cartooning in 1992 — the first woman to win the coveted award — she continues to focus on the corrupt and crazy in a city and a state known for both. Wilkinson notes "[While] Norwegian modesty precludes self promotion, OTHERS say my cartoons contributed to progress on several issues."

 

[Throughout his life, Rex Babin championed those who focused on state and local issues in editorial cartoons, a field that he and other cartoonists felt was regularly overlooked by journalism contests. The "Rex Babin Memorial Award for Excellence in Local Cartooning" was launched in 2017 to celebrate those working in this niche. To that end, we will be showcasing each cartoonist who entered the contest this year, one or two each day in alphabetical order (more or less), leading up to the AAEC Convention in Sacramento, CA, and the announcement of the award winner on Saturday, Sept. 22.]

 

The AAEC lands in Sacramento for their annual convention

It's here! The annual gathering of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists kicks off this week in Sacramento, CA. Running from Sept. 20-22, the convention will see three days of cartoonists, satirists and journalists from across the US, Canada and Down Under hobnobbing, panelling and pub crawling. 

AAEC President Pat Bagley, and co-hosts Jack Ohman and Scott Burns, welcome the Association of Canadian Cartoonists and special guests from New Zealand to the dumpster fire that is currently America. And the cartoonists from New Zealand are sure to have something to say about the viral firestorm set off by Australian Mark Knight's racist Serena Williams U.S. Open cartoon.

There will also be two events open to the public: A talk by Atlantic reporter McKay Coppins on Friday night, and a "Cartoonist Cage Match" on Saturday afternoon. The "sketchy battle royale" is sponsored by The Sacramento Bee and will include draw-offs by some of the best cartoonists working today. Check the Bee website for details.

The closing gala on Saturday night will see the presentations of the John Locher Memorial Award and CRNI's Courage in Editorial Cartooning Award.

 

 

 

 

 

Rex Babin Award nominee #35 & #36 — Mike Thompson and Bob Unell

Mike Thompson is an award-winning cartoonist for the Detroit Free Press who has actually given up national syndication to focus on state and local issues. "Michigan is home to the likes of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, self-proclaimed political expert Ted Nugent and the thuggish John Engler, a former governor who made headlines for his inept leadership of Michigan State University after the Larry Nassar sex abuse scandal.

"Each of the aforementioned individuals is in over their head. I’ve commented on them for years. Power and incompetence is a frightening combination, so there’s a crying need for someone here in Michigan to warn the state and the rest of the world, and to push back against their ignorance-fueled excesses." 

In addition to pushing the limits of what can be created in Photoshop, Thompson also creates a number of animated shorts each year, including PSAs on voting and elections.

 

 

Another midwesterner who felt the call of local cartooning is Bob Unell, who began drawing for the weekly Kansas City Star Kansas suburban edition in 2011. "My 30-year advertising career taught me how powerfully words and visuals can communicate when the right ones are combined. Over the past twelve months, a range of local issues impacting the lives of Kansans have inspired my cartoons, including the departure of Governor Sam Brownback, the continued “leadership” of Secretary of State Kris Kobach on immigration, the misplacement of children by the Kansas Department for Children and Families and the continuing impact of gun violence."

 

 

[Throughout his life, Rex Babin championed those who focused on state and local issues in editorial cartoons, a field that he and other cartoonists felt was regularly overlooked by journalism contests. The "Rex Babin Memorial Award for Excellence in Local Cartooning" was launched in 2017 to celebrate those working in this niche. To that end, we will be showcasing each cartoonist who entered the contest this year, one or two each day in alphabetical order (more or less), leading up to the AAEC Convention in Sacramento, CA, and the announcement of the award winner on Saturday, Sept. 22.]

 

 

See three award-winning cartoonists in one evening

Like cartoons? Love democracy? In Indianapolis?

Here's your chance to see three editorial cartoonists—Gary Varvel, Mike Luckovich and Michael Ramirez— in an evening of "Icons of Political Art," on Thursday, Sept. 20, at the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site.

All three will be receiving the "Advancing American Democracy Award" during The Mary Tucker Jasper Speaker Series. This year's program is part of the Presidential Site's mission to "increase participation in the American system of self-government by sharing the life stories, arts, and culture of an American President."

https://bhpsite.org/events/mary-tucker-jasper-speaker-series/

 

 

 

Rex Babin Award nominee #34 — Tom Stiglich

Pennsylvania is often described as "two liberal enclaves with Alabama in between." [Editor's note: I'm originally from Central PA and can mock my home state.] Enter Tom Stiglich, who provides a conservative take on progressive Philadelphia politics for Media News Group. Stiglich, whose national work is carried by Creators Syndicate, still relishes taking on such local topics as corrupt Philly DA Seth Williams, or controversial ex-Mayor Frank Rizzo.

 

[Throughout his life, Rex Babin championed those who focused on state and local issues in editorial cartoons, a field that he and other cartoonists felt was regularly overlooked by journalism contests. The "Rex Babin Memorial Award for Excellence in Local Cartooning" was launched in 2017 to celebrate those working in this niche. To that end, we will be showcasing each cartoonist who entered the contest this year, one or two each day in alphabetical order (more or less), leading up to the AAEC Convention in Sacramento, CA, and the announcement of the award winner on Saturday, Sept. 22.]

Rex Babin Award nominee #33 — Sage Stossel

Sage Stossel is a long-time contributing editor for The Atlantic, where she also produces cartoons addressing national stories of the moment. Outside of her day job, she draws cartoons about life in Boston and addresses local issues she cares about. "In two cases I was told the cartoons themselves have become instrumental in furthering a cause: Children’s Hospital researchers told me they’ve been sharing my cartoon to attract new autism study participants, and the director of the Comics Festival says he’s been bringing my cartoon to meetings to help convey the value of the event in his effort to secure a larger venue for next year."

"At a time of so much division, and when cartooning often feels like an exercise in outrage over so much that’s wrong, I’m grateful to be able to do local work that brings people together and makes a positive difference."

 

 

[Throughout his life, Rex Babin championed those who focused on state and local issues in editorial cartoons, a field that he and other cartoonists felt was regularly overlooked by journalism contests. The "Rex Babin Memorial Award for Excellence in Local Cartooning" was launched in 2017 to celebrate those working in this niche. To that end, we will be showcasing each cartoonist who entered the contest this year, one or two each day in alphabetical order (more or less), leading up to the AAEC Convention in Sacramento, CA, and the announcement of the award winner on Saturday, Sept. 22.]

Rex Babin Award nominee #32 — Kevin Siers

Kevin Siers may have won the Pulitzer Prize for his work at The Charlotte Observer, but he knows first hand the effect local cartoons can have. "I’ve followed an issue and kept hammering at it, and felt those cartoons contributed to change in the community. And, at least in one instance, drove the target of those cartoons nuts. The director of Charlotte’s county health department reportedly threw a chair across his office after seeing how his department’s inefficiency and incompetence was portrayed in one of my cartoons. The county soon replaced him." After 30+ years at the North Carolina paper, Siers clearly knows which buttons to push.

 

[Throughout his life, Rex Babin championed those who focused on state and local issues in editorial cartoons, a field that he and other cartoonists felt was regularly overlooked by journalism contests. The "Rex Babin Memorial Award for Excellence in Local Cartooning" was launched in 2017 to celebrate those working in this niche. To that end, we will be showcasing each cartoonist who entered the contest this year, one or two each day in alphabetical order (more or less), leading up to the AAEC Convention in Sacramento, CA, and the announcement of the award winner on Saturday, Sept. 22.]

 

Rex Babin Award nominee #31 — V.C. Rogers

V.C. Rogers — known to his friends as Cullum — is a paradigm of local cartooning, having spent his career working for a trio of regional newspapers covering the triangle of Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Recently pushed into early retirement by the elimination of his position at the alt-weekly Indy Week, at least Rogers went out on top: taking First Place in for his cartoons from the Association of Alternative Newsmedia.

Rogers is also known as a dogged academic of comics art, having amassed one of the largest private libraries of cartoon books in the world. He is the author of the Golden Notebook, the complete story of the AAEC, and is currently working on his magnum opus, a history of magazine parodies by college humor magazines.

 

[Throughout his life, Rex Babin championed those who focused on state and local issues in editorial cartoons, a field that he and other cartoonists felt was regularly overlooked by journalism contests. The "Rex Babin Memorial Award for Excellence in Local Cartooning" was launched in 2017 to celebrate those working in this niche. To that end, we will be showcasing each cartoonist who entered the contest this year, one or two each day in alphabetical order (more or less), leading up to the AAEC Convention in Sacramento, CA, and the announcement of the award winner on Saturday, Sept. 22.]

Rex Babin Award nominee #30 — Rob Rogers

Rob Rogers didn't want the job, but he is now the poster cartoonist for How to Get Fired. After a protracted battle with an increasingly pro-Trump publisher, Rogers was unceremoniously dumped this summer by his long-time newspaper, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, for failing to toe the toady line laid down by a new editor. With the help of angry readers, concerned citizens and social media, Rogers was able to parley a bad deal into international coverage and increased attention.

While he has a new fans nationwide, he still understands the importance of local, having been an integral part of the Pittsburgh news landscape for 34 years. In addition to his daily cartoons, Rogers created "Brewed on Grant," a local comic strip ran in the Post-Gazette for a total of 22 years and was, as he likes to point out, "one of the most popular features in the paper."

 

[Throughout his life, Rex Babin championed those who focused on state and local issues in editorial cartoons, a field that he and other cartoonists felt was regularly overlooked by journalism contests. The "Rex Babin Memorial Award for Excellence in Local Cartooning" was launched in 2017 to celebrate those working in this niche. To that end, we will be showcasing each cartoonist who entered the contest this year, one or two each day in alphabetical order (more or less), leading up to the AAEC Convention in Sacramento, CA, and the announcement of the award winner on Saturday, Sept. 22.]