MONTREAL, QUEBEC — North Carolina cartoonist Dennis Draughon is this year’s recipient of the “Rex Babin Memorial Award for Excellence in Local Cartooning.” The panel of judges also named Kentucky’s Marc Murphy as finalist.
The prize was announced Saturday, Oct. 5, at the annual convention of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists (AAEC).
Outgoing judge Matt Davies wrote, “Dennis Draughon’s singular focus on education — born of his frustrations as a teacher in North Carolina — zeroes in on a politically regressive state seemingly determined to undermine its students’ futures in the name of partisan political dogma.
“Whether its school vouchers, teacher turnover, strategic underinvestment, or the nefarious ‘parents’ rights movement,’ Draughon hits the North Carolina political machinery with the keen authority of a passionate teacher …who also happens to be a very good political cartoonist.”
2022 Babin winner Steve Stegelin noted, “As both an editorial cartoonist and an educator, Dennis Draughon’s cartoons read like missives from the frontline in the North Carolina legislature’s war on public education. With an appealing, cartoony style that belies his pointed commentary, Dennis’s attention to the state’s relentless attempts to undermine the education system epitomizes the importance of highlighting local topics that impact all residents — and is therefore well-deserving of this year’s Rex Babin Award.”
This was the third time cartoonist Marc Murphy was named as a finalist. The judges wrote, “Through stark imagery and even starker commentary, Marc Murphy’s entries for the Rex Babin Award showcase the power of the editorial cartoon, with a body of work that strives to make readers think more than laugh. Murphy holds the Louisville government to task on a large swath of issues — no more so than the police brutality that continues to impact a community still reeling from the shooting of Breonna Taylor.”
“One of the few things Rex Babin spoke of with true reverence was the magnificent impact of the local cartoon,” said Davies, the 2021 Babin Award winner. “We know Rex would be thrilled to see how many great local cartoons are still being eagerly inked and published, belying, against all odds, the oft-repeated complaint of the increasing dearth of local news.”
Draughon now joins Stegelin and Joel Pett as a judge for next year’s Babin Award. The Babin is one of the only journalism awards for editorial cartoonists that is selected by a jury of peers.
About the Rex Babin Award:
The AAEC established the award to honor the life and career of the political cartoonist Rex Babin. Babin, the editorial cartoonist for the Albany Times-Union and The Sacramento Bee, passed away in 2012 at age 49 following a long fight with cancer. He was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2003, and received the Berryman Award from the National Press Foundation the same year. His fellow cartoonists elected him President of the AAEC in 2009, and he was honored posthumously with the Mark Twain Award for Journalistic Excellence in 2015.
About the AAEC:
For almost 70 years, the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists has been the professional association concerned with promoting the interests of staff, freelance and student editorial cartoonists in North America, including political illustrators and the growing field of comics journalists. The AAEC is active in First Amendment, free speech, and journalists’ rights issues worldwide.
