We were present at the International Journalism Festival last week: cartoonists Stellina Chen from Taiwan and Tjeerd Royaards from the Netherlands gave a workshop on the role and impact of political cartoons.

Why are cartoonists so often targeted by dictators and how are cartoonists coping with the rising number of autocratic regimes in Europe and the world? Stellina and Tjeerd showcase the work of a number of cartoonists who are currently in trouble because of their work and, using examples of their own work, they also explain why cartoons can have such an impact and what tools a cartoonist uses to create an effective image.

You can watch a recording of the workshop here.

At the invitation of Cartooning for Peace, Cartoon Movement/Cartooning for Peace cartoonists Tjeerd Royaards, Zehra Ömeroğlu and Emanuele Del Rosso attended the World Forum for Democracy in Strasbourg last week.

They talked about making cartoons in this age of misinformation, hate towards migrants and climate skepticism, and how cartoons can be used to combat populism. You can watch a recording of the panel on the website of the Council of Europe.

On November 7, CM editor Tjeerd Royaards will be on a panel at the World Forum for Democracy 2024 in Strasbourg with Turkish cartoonist Zehra Ömeroğlu (currently facing trial in Turkey for one of her cartoons), Italian cartoonist Emanuele Del Rosso and all-round humor expert Alberto Godioli (Associate Professor at the University Groningen). The panel is organized by Cartooning For Peace and will focus on the question how we can use cartoons to fight populism and protect democracy.

The European Cartoon Award (ECA) has announced the 3 finalists of the 2024 edition of the contest. Their names are Tjeerd Royaards (The Netherlands), Steven Lectrr Degryse (Belgium) and Victor Solís (Mexico).

The three finalists were selected among the hundreds of entries received by the European Cartoon Award, from 24 countries.

The decision was made by the panel of judges, composed of five experts in the world of political cartoons and journalism: 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.

The Winner of the ECA 2024 – whose prize is worth 10,000 euros – will be announced during the second edition of the ECA ‘Cartoons Day’, on October 17 at the Central Library in The Hague.

For more information on the event, and to register for it, click here.

Here are the three finalist cartoons:

As a follow-up to our Western Balkans Media Freedom Cartoon Competition, the Embassy of the Netherlands in Albania invited us to host a workshop for young Albanian artists in Tirana, as a part of Dutch Culture Week.

Dutch cartoonist and CM editor explained how cartoons are a powerful tool to to hold those in power accountable, to expose injustice and corruption, and to point out what is wrong with society, using international and historical examples of cartoons.

Here an impression of the event and some of the cartoons that were created by the workshop participants.

Video report by Balkanweb

On September 10, CM editor and award-winning cartoonist Tjeerd Royaards will give a workshop on political cartoons in Tirana, Albania. In this workshop about the power of political cartoons, Tjeerd will show why visual satire is such a powerful way to hold those in power accountable, to expose injustice and corruption and to point out what is wrong in society. So powerful that around the world, cartoonists are still put in jail by dictators that fear the power of the pencil. More details and registration here.

Cartoon by Victor Bogorad

Our August newsletter is out! Although we’ve been away for most of August, we do have a lot of upcoming events in September and beyond to tell you about. Read our newsletter here.

On April 18, cartoonists Emanuele Del Rosso and Tjeerd Royaards gave a workshop on editorial cartoons at the International Journalism Festival. If you've missed it, you can watch it here.

Join our workshop about editorial cartoons at the International Journalism Festival on Thursday at 11am CET, either in person in Perugia or online, draw a cartoon and win one of the buttons to wear as a badge of pride! We'll send 10 buttons out to the best online participants. Just mail your cartoon to cartoons@cartoonmovement after the workshop to be considered.

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.