newmatilda.com is delighted to announce the winners of the 2009 Prize for Political Cartooning.
Sydney cartoonist Fiona Katauskas was the outright winner of the competition taking home a cheque for $6000. Her cartoon lampoons Peter
Costello’s childish appetite for attention.
Second prize, worth $1000, and third prize of $500, went to Melbourne
cartoonists, Andrew Weldon
and Luke Watson,
respectively. Andrew’s cartoon "Something less swiney" and Luke’s "Are you
stimulated?" picked up on popular news themes.
Presiding
over the final decision was an expert panel of satirists including Sydney Morning Herald sketchwriter, Annabel Crabb, and cartoonists Bill Leak and Peter Broelman. The winners were announced last night at an event at Tap Gallery in Darlinghurst attended by the three judges.
The
competition offers the largest prize pool for political cartooning in Australia to the most creative, funny and talented political cartoonists in Australia and New Zealand.
This
is also the first interactive cartoon competition and gave newmatilda.com readers the opportunity to vote for their favourite cartoon in a series of 10 heats.
Entries were open to all cartoonists — amateurs, students, professionals or anyone with
a dab hand and a sense of humour.
The fine art of political cartooning is honoured by this annual event. Bill Leak, in
his inimitable style, reminds us of the mantle worn by his kind.
"As cartoonists it’s our responsibility to uphold standards of decency and morality
in contemporary society. We must be forever vigilant, keeping our keen eyes trained on our public figures, always ready to pounce whenever we spot them straying from the path of righteousness and virtue."
We had a huge response to the 2009 competition. Congratulations to the winners and everyone who submitted drawings; we look forward to seeing your work in next year’s competition. Thanks to all our readers who voted
for the cartoons. Thanks also to Crumpler, Melbourne
University Press, Scribe Publications, Icon and Hopscotch Films, and the
Sydney Writers’ Festival for prizes.
The finalists’ work will be exhibited at Sydney’s Tap Gallery until
July 6.
Our cartoon competition site includes all of the entries in this year’s competition and the 12 finalists. These were the winning entries:
Winning Entry by Fiona Katauskas
Second Place Entry by Andrew Weldon
Third Place Entry by Luke Watson
Donate To New Matilda
New Matilda is a small, independent media outlet. We survive through reader contributions, and never losing a lawsuit. If you got something from this article, giving something back helps us to continue speaking truth to power. Every little bit counts.
