We are happy to welcome Bouali Mbarek, originally from Morocco, now residing in Canada. He began his cartooning careeer in the late 1980s, working for various Moroccan publications. He currently publishe on Hespress, one of the largest news platforms in Morocco.
It's December, so it's time for our traditional top 10 list of the best cartoons of the year! In 2024, we received over 10,000 cartoons from our network of over 700 cartoonists. Around 250 of these were featured as an editor's choice on our homepage; many others were highlighted on our social media channels.
Picking the 10 best ones from such a large pool of high quality cartoons is almost impossible, so while the selection is by no means exhaustive or objective, these 10 images do reflect some of the most important news events of 2024, and were very popular with our audience.
In the first cartoon, from early January, Osama Hajjaj expressed the hope that 2024 would be better. It didn't exactly turn out that way, and he could basically create the same image for 2025...
The second cartoon on our list, by Austrian artist Marian Kamensky, proved to be more prophetic (unfortunately), and gives a succinct visual summary of current power relations.
The cartoon Gaza child by Yousef Alimohammadi isn't funny at all, but it does show how a good cartoon can confront you with the harsh reality while also showing how things should be.
One of the recurring topics we get a lot of cartoons on each year is International Workers' Day (May 1). Derkaoui Abdellah not only shows the inequality that continues to persist between capital and labor, but also connects this to the climate crisis and rising sea levels, the consequences of which will no doubt be felt the hardest by common workers.
Although the National Rally didn't win the French elections this summer, the cartoon by SWAHA does show how the radical-right tries to make their ideas more palatable to voters (in France evolving from Jean-Marie to Marine Le Pen, and then Jordan Bardella).
The lure of the far right in the European elections is also aptly captured in this cartoon by Thiago Lucas from Brazil:
The world was (and is) slow to call what is going on in Gaza a genocide. Z from Tunisia made this telling visual about the politics that surround the unspeakable humanitarian catastrophe that is still happening today.
Most of you will remember the first (and only) debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. Although lost by Trump, it didn't cost him the elections, as most voters seem to prefer convenient lies to harsh truths. The cartoon is by Emad Hajjaj.
And this is what the new reign of Trump will look like, according to Paolo Calleri from Germany.
We of course need to end our top 10 with the major event of December, the fall of Assad. Alan Lauzan from Chile imagines Assad's arrival at the palace of Putin.
We have no doubt 2025 will provide our cartoonists with more than enough material to continue making scathing, sharp, witty, funny and confronting visuals. If you want to see more top 10s, check out the best cartoons of 2023 and 2022.
Massimo D'Acunzo, aka Qunzo, is a graphic designer, illustrator and cartoonist from Naples, Italy. He collaborates with several Italian satire magazines and illustrates editorial works for children.
The European Press Prize and Studio Europa Maastricht announce the opening of the European Cartoon Award 2024, the prize for excellence in editorial cartoons.
From April 29 to June 2, 2024, editorial cartoonists will be able to submit their work for the fifth edition of the European Cartoon Award. Submitted cartoons must have had their first publication date between June 2, 2023, and June 2, 2024, with a media outlet from a country within the Council of Europe, plus Belarus, and Russia.
Founded in 2019, by the European Press Prize and Studio Europa Maastricht, the European Cartoon Award has one of the highest monetary prizes for cartoonists, granting its winner a prize of 10,000 euros.
For more information and to submit your work, go here: europeancartoonaward.com
In January we launched a cartoon competition, together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, in the six countries that make up the Western Balkans: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro North Macedonia and Serbia.
Out of a total of 186 submissions from 95 artists, a jury of journalism and comic professionals selected 44 works for a cartoon exhibition on media freedom. You can see all the submissions (and more info on the jury members) on our project page.The jury was also tasked with picking a winner and a runner-up. They decided to award first prize to Dušan Petričić from Serbia, with a caricature of Serbian president Vučić. The jury was impressed by the style and execution of the cartoon and the fact that the artist needed no words to convey a clear message. The cartoon also has universal appeal; if you do not know who Vučić is, you will most likely still understand the visual message.
Second place was awarded to Armend Ajredini from North Macedonia. Armend is an editorial illustrator for Gazeta, a publication in Kosovo. The jury complimented his clear style. They were also happy to see journalists presented not as victims, but as professionals that can alter the status qua with the work that they do.
Although not part of the official awards, the jury also decided to give a special mention to Anastasija Visekruna, a 16-year old artist Bosnia and Herzegovina. Although the message in the image might not be as straightforward as in the winning cartoons, the visual intrigued the judges and sparked debate about the meaning of the drawing. The goal of a cartoonist is to create an interesting image that will make people think; in that, Anastasija certainly succeeded.
The exhibition is on display in the six countries of the Western Balkans in April and May. Here below are some impressions of the exhibitions.
A day late (we usually send our newsletter out on Monday) because of Easter, but our monthly update from the world of political cartooning is out. Read it here to discover our latest news and last month's most popular cartoons. If you haven't subscribed yet, you can do so here.
And remember, we also send out a newsletter every weekday with our daily cartoon, t0 which you can subscribe here.
In 2018, we did a project together with the United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR) and the government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands creating cartoons about the importance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Out of over 500 cartoons sent in from all over the world, 30 winning cartoons were selected; one for each article of the UDHR. The cartoons were bundled together in a booklet, a visual guide to the UDHR.
At the end of 2023, we were contacted by the Permanent Representation of the Permanent Representation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the United Nations, the WTO and other organisations in Geneva. As a kick-off for the Kingdom of the Netherlands' three-year membership in the Human Rights Council, they wanted to re-issue and update the booklet. The renewed booklet includes a lot of updated cartoons to reflect more diversity.
It was launched yesterday during the visit of our Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hanke Bruins Slot, at the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
This booklet is the result of a collaborative effort between the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Cartoon Movement, and the Kingdom of the Netherlands. An illumination of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with cartoons crafted by artists from around the globe.
Western Balkans cartoon competition & exhibition
Cartoon Movement and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands invite cartoonists, illustrators and artists from the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia) to send in their work for a regional cartoon competition and exhibition with the theme Media freedom.
Media freedom is a vital component of a functioning democracy. Reliable reporting and investigative journalism inform citizens about what is going on in society and inside government, forming the basis of a healthy public debate. Cartoonists, who use their pencils to hold power accountable and to expose injustice, power abuse and corruption, cannot do their work without this freedom.
We are looking for cartoons that visualize the importance of media freedom and the value of independent journalism.
Rules of Participation
1. This competition is open to all cartoonists, illustrators and artists from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia. Cartoonists can submit work that is unpublished, or work that has been published before.
2. The cartoons should reflect the theme media freedom and the value of press freedom for the public debate.
3. Cartoons that contain hate speech or discrimination will not be accepted.
4. Cartoons can be in black and white or in color, and can be created using any technique.
5. Cartoons must be sent in via email to [email protected].
6. Cartoon size must not exceed A3 at 300dpi, in PNG or JPG format.
7. Each cartoonist can send in a maximum of three works.
8. Participants must include the following in their submission:
Full name & address
Email & telephone number
Short bio (max. 250 words)
9. The deadline of the competition is Friday March 1 2024, 23:59 GMT.
Prizes
1. A professional jury will convene in March 2024 to select cartoons for the exhibition and to determine the winners.
2. The first prize winner will receive €1000 and a certificate.
3. The second prize winner will receive €500 and a certificate.
4. Cartoonists selected for the exhibition will receive a certificate.
5. Selected works will be included in exhibitions hosted by Embassies of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia in April and May 2024. Selected cartoons will also be published on the website of Cartoon Movement.
6. Winners and artists of selected works will be informed by April 10, 2024.
Copyright
1. The participant must certify and warrant that the submitted cartoon(s) does not violate the rights of a third party or any copyright. The competition organization is not responsible for intellectual property violations that might have resulted through the submissions of cartoons.
2. Copyright of the submitted cartoons will remain with the artist.
3. Cartoonists grant Cartoon Movement and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands a non-commercial and non-exclusive license to use the submitted work(s) in exhibitions and other publications, print and digital.
It has become a Cartoon Movement tradition to share the 10 'best' cartoons each year. It's an arbitrary term, as few things are as subjective as political cartoons, but we've made a selection based on what was popular with our audience and what subjects best represent the news of 2023. So here goes:
1. Earthquake in Turkey and Syria, by Hamzeh Hajjaj
This cartoon captures the devastating impact of the earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria in the beginning of the year.
2. Bothersome poverty by Rucke Souza
2023 was yet another year of growing inequality; the super-rich continue to accumulate more of the world's wealth, at the expense of the poor.
3. Mug shots by Glen Le Lievre
Trump remains a constant in cartooning, and although Lady Justice is trying to lock him up, we fear we haven't seen the last of him...
4. Ideologies by Halit Kurtulmus Aytoslu
The most popular ideology of 2023 was populism with a generous splash of racism and xenophobia.
5. Titan versus migrants by Mo Qasem
Remember the submarine with some rich people that went missing on their way to visit the Titanic? The global rescue attempt stood in stark contrast to our (mostly non-existent) attempts to rescue migrant boats.
6. Jenin by Osama Hajjaj
Before the attack on Gaza, Israel already launched a bloody military operation in Jenin this summer.
7. Putin’s chef by Tupou Ceruzou
Putin's revenge on Prigozhin: a dish served cold?
8. Biden visits Israel by Thiago Lucas
Gaza was probably to most cartooned subject of the year. It's difficult to just pick one cartoon from so many powerful image, but this one captures the essence of international politics and the blatant disregard for the massive loss of innocent lives.
9. Black Friday by Anne Derenne
Consumerism captured in a cartoon.
10. Happy new year? by Marian Kamensky
So what do we have to look forward to? Well, more of the same...
See you next year!
We are pleased to welcome visual artists José Sanina from Portugal. He combines his work as an artists with his work as a professor teaching visual arts in Lisbon.