Finalist: Ken Fisher, drawing as Ruben Bolling, freelancer

For pointed political commentary, informed by comics history, that provided readers nuanced satire of the Trump phenomenon.

Nominated Work

January 11, 2018

January 25, 2018

February 22, 2018

March 1, 2018

March 8, 2018

April 26, 2018

May 3, 2018

June 14, 2018

June 19, 2018

July 18, 2018

August 1, 2018

August 8, 2018

September 12, 2018

September 18, 2018

September 14, 2018

October 24, 2018

November 16, 2018

November 23, 2018

November 30, 2018

Biography

Ruben Bolling is the author of the weekly comic strip “Tom the Dancing Bug,” distributed by Andrews McMeel Syndication to newspapers across North America. The comic strip has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Village Voice, The Los Angeles Times, and hundreds of other newspapers.

“Tom the Dancing Bug” also is featured every week on BoingBoing.net, one of the most linked-to websites in the world, DailyKos.com, the premier online political community website, and GoComics.com, the largest comics website.

Ruben Bolling won the 2018 Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for Cartooning, for his work on “Tom the Dancing Bug.” He was awarded the 2017 Herblock Prize for Editorial Cartooning, after being the Finalist in 2016. He also was the 2014 Gold Medal Winner for the Society of Illustrators Comic Strip Awards. He is a Sigma Delta Chi Award winner (Society of Professional Journalists), a multiple Harvey Award nominee, and a five-time winner of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies Best Cartoon Award.

Ruben Bolling has authored three “Tom the Dancing Bug” compilation books: Thrilling Tom the Dancing Bug Stories (Andrews McMeel, 2004); All I Ever Needed to Know I Learned From My Golf-Playing Cats (NBM Publishing, 1997); and Tom the Dancing Bug (HarperCollins, 1992).

Ruben Bolling is also the author/illustrator of The EMU Club Adventures, a series of science fiction/humor books for kids, published by Andrews McMeel Publishing. The first book in the series is Alien Invasion in My Backyard, and the second is Ghostly Thief of Time, both published in 2015.

In addition to the weekly comic strip, Ruben Bolling has had original comics published in such magazines as Nickelodeon, Mad Magazine, ESPN The Magazine and Harper’s. The New Yorker has published twelve full-page color cartoons by Bolling. He had a limited-run daily comic strip, “Donald and John,” that ran on TheNib.com for the five weeks before the 2016 presidential election, which won the 2017 National Cartoonists Society Best Online Comic award.

Ruben Bolling is a graduate of Tufts University and Harvard Law School, and he lives in New York City with his wife and three children.

Winners

Prize Winner in Editorial Cartooning in 2019:

Darrin Bell, freelancer

For beautiful and daring editorial cartoons that took on issues affecting disenfranchised communities, calling out lies, hypocrisy and fraud in the political turmoil surrounding the Trump administration. Editorial Cartooning

Finalists

Nominated as finalists in Editorial Cartooning in 2019:

Rob Rogers, freelancer

For provocative illustrations that channeled cultural and historical references with expert artistry and an eye for hypocrisy and injustice.

The Jury

Matthew J. Von Pinnon(Chair)

Editor-in-Chief

Martha Carr

Managing Editor

Karen L. Green

Curator, Comics and Cartoons

Dan Perkins

Self-Syndicated Political Cartoonist, New York, N.Y.

Kyle Pope

Editor/Publisher

Winners in Editorial Cartooning

2018

Jake Halpern, freelance writer, and Michael Sloan, freelance cartoonist, The New York Times

For an emotionally powerful series, told in graphic narrative form, that chronicled the daily struggles of a real-life family of refugees and its fear of deportation.

2017

Jim Morin

For editorial cartoons that delivered sharp perspectives through flawless artistry, biting prose and crisp wit.

2016

Jack Ohman

For cartoons that convey wry, rueful perspectives through sophisticated style that combines bold line work with subtle colors and textures.

2015

Adam Zyglis

Who used strong images to connect with readers while conveying layers of meaning in a few words.

See All Editorial Cartooning

2019 Prize Winners

Public Service

South Florida Sun Sentinel

For exposing failings by school and law enforcement officials before and after the deadly shooting rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Explanatory Reporting

David Barstow, Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner of The New York Times

For an exhaustive 18-month investigation of President Donald Trump’s finances that debunked his claims of self-made wealth and revealed a business empire riddled with tax dodges. (Moved by the Board from the Investigative Reporting category, where it was also entered.)

Investigative Reporting

Matt Hamilton, Harriet Ryan and Paul Pringle of the Los Angeles Times

For consequential reporting on a University of Southern California gynecologist accused of violating hundreds of young women for more than a quarter-century.

Criticism

Carlos Lozada of The Washington Post

For trenchant and searching reviews and essays that joined warm emotion and careful analysis in examining a broad range of books addressing government and the American experience.

See All 2019 Winners