The Hague, NL (October 18, 2024) Live from the Bibliotheek Den Haag, the European Cartoon Award, one of the biggest and most prestigious awards for political cartoons published in Europe, announced the name of its Winner, Runners-up and Honorable Mentions.
The first prize was awarded to the Belgian cartoonist Steven Lectrr Degryse, for his work published in the Belgian outlet De Standaard. The two Runners-up are cartoonists Tjeerd Royaards (Netherlands) and Victor Solís (Mexico). Honourable Mentions were awarded to Elena Ospina (Colombia) and Peter Kuper (United States).
The Winner, Runners-up and Honorable Mentions
Steven Lectrr Degryse’s cartoon, published by De Standaard, comments on the death of Russian politician and activist Alexei Navalny.
Steven Lectrr Degryse
Together with the other winning works, Steven’s cartoon was selected from the 16 nominees (available below), who were selected from almost 400 submissions coming from more than 24 countries, Europe, and beyond.
The cartoons of the two runners-up, Tjeerd Royaards (published in the Dutch outlet Trouw) and Victor Solís (published in the Spanish newspaper Efe Verde), respectively comment on the farmers’ protests in Europe and the plastic pollution of the seas.
Tjeerd Royaards, Runner-up
Victor Solís, Runner-up
Emanuele Del Rosso, Deputy Director of the European Cartoon Award:
“This year’s winning cartoon shows us Freedom of speech, embodied in the figure of Alexei Navalny. A corpse on a morgue table, whose mouth is closed by stitches, as it is the free voice of Russian citizens. It is a striking metaphor that applies to so many other countries. Solís and Royaard’s cartoons deal instead with a very pressing problem: the environment and how we treat it, and the need to take necessary steps to fight pollution and climate change. I find these three cartoons extremely powerful.”
Two Honourable Mentions
The jury decided to award two Honourable Mentions, to Elena Ospina and Peter Kuper, for cartoons published by the French newspapers Le Monde and Charlie Hebdo.
Elena Ospina
Peter Kuper
Announced during the ECA ‘Cartoons Day’ 2024
The winners of the ECA 2024 were announced during the Award Ceremony held at the Bibliotheek Den Haag. The Ceremony was part of the ECA ‘Cartoons Day’, a one-day event entirely dedicated to editorial cartoons organised with the support of the Municipality of The Hague, the Stimuleringsfonds voor de Journalistiek, and Sound & Vision.
Experts, activists, artists and cartoonists sat together with the over one hundred attendees of the ‘Cartoons Day’ in the rooms of the Bibliotheek Den Haag for several workshops and panels.
At the close of the afternoon sessions, the Award Ceremony commenced. Before presenting the awards, Emanuele Del Rosso, Deputy Director of the European Cartoon Award, was joined on stage by Saskia Bruines, Deputy Mayor for Media Affairs of The Hague. Also present were Terry Anderson, Director of Cartoonists Rights, who delivered a powerful keynote on the risks faced by cartoonists in their work, and Turkish cartoonist Zehra Ömeroğlu, who shared her experiences with legal challenges from the Turkish government over one of her cartoons.
After the Award Ceremony, an exhibition showcasing the 40 longlisted works of the ECA 2024 was inaugurated on the second floor of the library.
THE ECA 2024 SHORTLIST AND LONGLIST
ECA 2024 Shortlist:
BJ Vonk (The Netherlands), Marco Jeurissen (The Netherlands), Pawel Kuczynski (Poland), Victor Solís (Mexico), Manuel Arriaga (Spain), Hajo de Reijger (The Netherlands), Steven ‘Lectrr’ Degryse (Belgium), Marco De Angelis (Italy), Peter Kuper (United States), Ramsés Morales Izquierdo (Switzerland), Keyvan Varesi (Iran), Thiago Lucas (Brazil), Gustavo Caballero (Mexico), Gergely Bacsa (Hungary), Elena Ospina (Colombia), Tjeerd Royaards (The Netherlands).
ECA 2024 Longlist:
Apart from the shortlisted cartoonists above, the Longlist includes other 24 cartoonists:
Oleksiy Kustovsky (Ukraine), Angel Boligàn (Cuba), Stellina Chen (Taiwan), Asier y Javier (Spain), Monireh Ahmadi (Iran), Mark Winter (United Kingdom), Zach (Philippines), Silvano Mello (Brazil), Maarten Wolterink (The Netherlands), TRIK (The Netherlands), Kevin KAL Kallaugher (United States), Marilena Nardi (Italy), Pierre Pauma (France), Paresh Nath (India), Harry Burton (Ireland), Vasco Gargalo (Portugal), Zehra Ömeroğlu (Turkey), Ahmad Rahma (Turkey), Christo Komarnitski (Bulgaria), Sinisa Pismestrovic (Austria), Rodrigo de Matos (Portugal), Kutoshi Kimimo (Italy), Plop & Kankr (France), Osama Hajjaj (Jordan).
The 2024 Panel of judges
The jury for the 2024 edition consists of: the winner of the European Cartoon Award 2023 Ben Jennings, from the UK, French journalist Catherine André (Chair), Dutch cartoonist Jip van den Toorn, Iranian cartoonist Sanaz Bagheri, and Dutch philosopher Stine Jensen.
About the European Cartoon Award
The European Cartoon Award was founded by the European Press Prize and Studio Europa Maastricht in 2019 – the year in which the New York Times decided to stop running editorial cartoons altogether – and joined by Sound & Vision in 2024. We award courage and quality in the field of political cartooning and foster conversation on the topic of Europe.
Cartoons are an important part of an open debate, of questioning both old ideas and introducing new ones. Yet, more than any other form of journalism, political cartoons are feeling the strain of the shrinking space for freedom of expression.
To encourage cartoonists to continue their essential task, we have launched the European Cartoon Award, worth €10,000.
The European Cartoon Award is made possible by a number of foundations and organisations that strive to encourage political cartoons in Europe: Municipality of The Hague, Stimuleringsfonds voor de Journalistiek, Bibliotheek Den Haag.
For information on the ECA, visit www.europeancartoonaward.com
For inquiries about the European Cartoon Award exhibition and cartoons, contact emanuele@europeanpressprize.com
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