Mark Fiore is best known for being the first editorial cartoonist to fully switch to animation for his political commentary, and, in 2010, for being the first animator to win the Pulitzer Prize. A few years ago, he returned to doing daily static cartoons for the website of KQED News in San Francisco — all while continuing his output of one animated cartoon a week.
His new state and local cartoons run the gamut from single panel commentary to long-form graphics journalism: "At times I will do my own reporting for cartoons, like the cartoon series about the people who clean used syringes from the streets of San Francisco."
Fellow Californian Steve Greenberg has been drawing for the alt-weekly Ventura County Reporter for a few years now, after having worked at newspapers up and down the west coast, from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, San Francisco Chronicle, and the Daily News of Los Angeles, among others. He also submits to Daryl Cagle's politicalcartoons.com
Greenberg noted, "In Ventura County, the biggest story of 2017 was the deadly Thomas Fire, largest blaze in California history, causing massive destruction in Ventura and points west. Among my cartoons are a reaction to the fire itself, to price gouging observed locally by my editor, and the risk to recent burn areas while continuing drought drained nearby Lake Casitas, a source of local drinking water."
[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.]
