Tom Tomorrow Wins the Herblock Prize

Congratulations to Tom Tomorrow (Dan Perkins) for winning the Herblock Prize for editorial cartooning for his weekly strip, This Modern World. You can read his cartoons at Daily Kos, and he briefly discusses the award on his blog here and here.

Here's part of the announcement:

The prize is awarded annually by The Herb Block Foundation for “distinguished examples of editorial cartooning that exemplify the courageous independent standard set by Herblock.” The winner receives a $15,000 after-tax cash prize and a sterling silver Tiffany trophy. Perkins will receive the prize April 25th in a ceremony held at the Library of Congress...

Gwen Ifill, moderator and managing editor of “Washington Week” and senior correspondent for “The PBS Newshour,” will deliver the annual Herblock Lecture at the awards ceremony. Previous speakers have included Ben Bradlee, then-Senator Barack Obama, Sandra Day O’Connor, Tom Brokaw, Tim Russert, Ted Koppel, George Stevens Jr., Jim Lehrer and Garry Trudeau.

Judges for this year’s contest were Matt Bors, a nationally syndicated cartoonist in altweeklies and winner of the 2012 Herblock Prize; Jenny Robb, curator of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum at Ohio State University; and Steve Brodner, satirical illustrator who has covered eight national political conventions for Esquire, The Progressive, The New Yorker and others.

The judges felt there were many strong portfolios in this year’s contest, including several animated-only entries and other alternative multi-panel submissions.

Bors said Tom Tomorrow’s portfolio included “hands down, some of the smartest political cartoons of the year.” Subjects included “consistently hilarious takedowns of women-bashers, gun culture and the president’s abuse of executive power.”

“Tom Tomorrow is both fearless and funny, two qualities that make him a first-rate editorial cartoonist,” Robb said. “He has developed a unique graphic style that perfectly suits his wry and clever assaults on politicians, political parties, and bad policies while also making his work instantly recognizable.”

Brodner said, “Dan Perkins’ output for the year was consistently strong, intelligent and witty. The work discussed the most important issues in a way extremely compelling and illuminating. The sequential political cartoon is a vivid and powerful form in his hands.”

The finalist was Jack Ohman of the Sacramento Bee.

I'm a fan of Tom Tomorrow's work, and got his autograph for his then-latest book, Too Much Crazy, at Netroots Nation 2012. (I'm also honored that he appreciated and linked one of my posts.) Digby sums it up very well:

This Modern World isn't just brilliant, it's indispensable. Seriously. It's one of the very few political commentaries to which I know I can consistently turn to test whether I'm losing my mind or if what I think I'm seeing truly is what I am seeing. It's a touchstone --- and largely unacknowledged as the precursor to everything we've developed as a liberal media counter-culture over the last decade in the blogosphere. Tom Tomorrow was saying it all long before any of the rest of us were.