The Sacramento Bee, by Jack Ohman

To the Judges:

For more than 35 years, Jack Ohman has delighted and infuriated readers with his funny, stirring and always topical cartoons. In 2015, he took his artistry to a new level. He had plenty of material: gun violence; mass shootings and terrorism; Hillary Clinton; Donald Trump; California's drought; and our endlessly interesting governor, Jerry Brown, and Brown's Welsh corgi, Sutter. He also drew from his own life, with humanity and depth.

After the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack, Ohman depicted the Prophet Mohammad, questioning whether the Koran sanctions the murder of cartoonists. After slaughters at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, Umpqua Community College and Inland Regional, he drew powerful statements about the National Rifle Association's outsized clout.

His drawings ranged from the bold to the masterfully understated. His touching statement on the day the U.S. Supreme Court legalized marriage equality is a cartoon that will echo for years.

Ohman's range extends to his stylistic approach. Matching style to substance, his portfolio includes single-panel daily political cartoons, multi-panel Sunday cartoons, illustrations, spot-caricatures and videos, depending on the topic. An incisive commentator, Ohman also writes a Sunday humor column and produces a regular flow of editorials.

His readers engage him voraciously. His Facebook page has thousands of followers, he does regular speaking engagements, and his office is a much-anticipated stop for groups touring the newspaper. He is in demand nationally as well: His cartoons appear in 200 papers in the U.S. and overseas, and are frequently reprinted in The Week, on public television, in The Washington Post and other major newspapers.

We never know what will emerge from his agile mind. But we look forward to seeing it, and know his readers do, too.

Sincerely,

Joyce Terhaar

Executive Editor & SVP