We have been getting many applications from cartoonists wanting to join our community, and most of them make great cartoons. Here are some of the latest cartoonists that have joined our ranks, from (in no particular order) Bulgaria, Ukraine, Lebanon and Mexico:

Trayko Popov

Trayko Popov is a well-known cartoonist in Bulgaria and around the world, working for for various publications. Check out more of his work on his website and Facebook page.

Oleksy Kustovy

Oleksy Kustovy is a Ukrainian cartoonist. Since 2003 he has won over a 100 prizes for his work in international contests.

Hassan Bleibel

Hassan Bleibel is the editorial cartoonist for The Daily Star in Lebanon. For more of his work visit his website.

Guffo

Gustavo Caballero, better known as Guffo, has been a cartoonist for 15 years, working for two newspapers in his hometown Monterrey, Mexico.

Initiated by the African Union in a resolution dating back to 2004, the African Union Human Rights Memorial (AUHRM) is meant to become a memorial for remembering mass atrocities in Africa. 'AUHRM should manifest both the duty to remember, provide a place of recognition as well as mourning and the duty to overcome denial, silence and disregard.'

Special attention is given to the victims of the former central prison Alem Bekagn in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where where thousands of people suffered and died. The headquarters of the African Union are located where this prison once stood.

The AUHRM will incorporate permanent memorials to the Rwanda Genocide, Apartheid and slavery, and temporary exhibits to memorialize human rights violations across the continent.

Cartoon Movement was asked to produce a series of five illustrations based on AUHRM slogans, to be used in the promotion of this project. We felt this assignment would be handled best by an African cartoonist, and asked Kenyan artist Victor Ndula to take this commission. Here is the result:

For an African Union Human Rights Memorial:

1. Let us unite to honour all victims and survivors of atrocities in the spirit of Pan African solidarity.

2. Let us document different histories of suffering in Africa, while promoting dialogue.

3. Let us educate African youth about past atrocities on the continent and tell the stories of those who strived to resist them.

4. Let us denounce the crimes committed by Africans against Africans.

5. Let us strive to prevent genocide, crimes against humanity and human rights abuses in Africa.

By Tjeerd Royaards

This weekend I had the pleasure of attending the Fumetto International Comix Festival in Lucerne, Switzerland. Fumetto has been around for 23 years, and has established itself as one of the leading comics events in Europe. It was the first time I was there, and I must say that I was impressed. In all honesty, it is the best and most professional event focused on comics I have visited so far (and I have been to quite a few in the past several years).

Photos by Tjeerd Royaards (top) and monicatarocco.com (bottom)

What I was most impressed by was the way comics were presented as a serious form of art. Comic events in the Netherlands tend to focus on collectors markets; stalls with lots of boxes filled with old (mostly children's) comics. There is some attention for adult graphic novels, but barely any for non-fiction comics or comics journalism. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with these types of events, but they do perpetuate the image of comics as something for children and geeks, not to be taken seriously if you're a normal adult member of society.

The great thing about Fumetto is that it focuses on exhibitions. Throughout Lucerne various comics artists from multiple countries display their work. One of the highlights for me was the work of Danish artist Kellie Strøm, who has the best skill with a fineliner I have ever seen:

Another exhibition that stood out was Motion Comics, which showcased a number of comics that use the possibilities of the digital realm to create a different user experience. Our Dutch colleagues from Submarine showcased 'The Art of Pho', a motion comic based on a graphic novel by Julian Hanshaw. Other interactive comics on display here were CIA: Operation Ajax and NAWLS. All great examples of what's possible, and a definite inspiration for our future comics journalism productions.

I was invited to be in a panel about comics reporting, and the question whether or not this form of reporting is actually journalism. Other panel members included comics artist Olivier Kugler, who works for the Guarian and Medecins Sans Frontières (among others), the editor-in-chief of Swiss magazine Reportagen, and a documentary photographer.  Probably not surprisingly, In my opinion cartoons and comics journalism are both form of art and journalism. The panel was quite unanimous, and the audience agreed as well, in that comics can indeed be journalism. The core of good journalism is telling a compelling story, and you can tell that story with words, video, photos or indeed drawings.

Left to right: artist Olivier Kugler, Editor-in-Chief of Reportagen, Daniel Puntas, hotographer Meinrad Schade and CM editor Tjeerd Royaards.
Foto: Lars von Törne/Tagesspiegel

Chances are I will become a regular visitor of Fumetto. We need to have more of these kinds of events to show a broader audience the potential of cartoons and comics. For a more comprehensive photo impression of the festival, check out Fumetto's Facebook page.

Dmytro Skazhenyk is an artist from Mariupol in Ukraine, publishing in the newspaper 'Gazeta po-Ukrainsky' and the journal 'Krajina'.

Fumetto Comix Festival is an annual international event focusing on comics and art, taking place in Lucerne, Switzerland. For those attending this year, be sure to check out the panel on comics journalism on Sunday April 13:

From Joe Sacco to Patrick Chappatte or Olivier Kugler, comic reportage has become an increasingly esteemed genre in the last decade for both artists and readers. Comic-reporters have used drawing to relay war experiences, societal injustice or autobiography. There are no formal boundaries for artists in this genre, and yet still it comes into question: when is and how far can Comic-Reportage really be considered journalism? Is it only dependent on how one defines journalism itself? And at what point does Comic-Reportage become literature or art?

Panel speakers will be Olivier Kugler (artist), Daniel Puntas (Editor-in-Chief - Reportagen), Tjeerd Royaards (Editor-in-Chief - Cartoon Movement), Meinrad Schade (Documentary photographer), Aino Sutinen (comic artist)

For more information, go here: http://www.fumetto.ch/de/festivalprogramm/agenda/event/100-comic-reportage-und-journalismus.html

Nestory Fedeliko (artist name: Fede), is a cartoonist from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. He currently works for the Nation Media Group. Check out more of his work here.

Cartoon Movement has been nominated in The Bobs 2014. To quote from their website:

The Bobs awards honor websites and projects  in 14 languages that champion the open exchange of ideas and freedom of expression. When the annual awards launched in 2004, blogs were just beginning to establish themselves as a new type of media and The Bobs aimed to show that this new form of communication was worthy of being taken seriously and to point to the excellent example of work being done online to foster dialogue across language barriers.

The Bobs represent one of Deutsche Welle’s ongoing efforts to contribute to promoting freedom of expression and the upholding of human rights on the Internet and around the world.

We've been nominated in the category People's Choice for English. If you like what we do, and want us to win an award for it, you can vote for us.

'One image can communicate more than dozens of pages of text or hours of speeches. One image can change the course of history. Editorial cartoons draw attention to important political, economic, and social issues like nothing else. Using symbols or visual metaphors, their reach transcends country borders and language barrier.'

Nigerian cartoonist and CM-member Francis Odupute is one of the organizers of The Cartoon Africa International Biennal (CAIB) 2014. They have put out a call for entries for the festival, which will take place in Nigeria in the last quarter of 2014. The overall theme of the festival is 'The Future of Africa', and submissions can cover a range of subthemes such as violence against women, children, and sustainable development goals (to name a few).

For more information visit the festival website or read the full competition rules here (PDF). The deadline for entries is October 1, 2014.