Press release from the European Cartoon Award — 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.
The cartoons can be submitted via this link: https://europeancartoonaward.com/
About the European Cartoon Award
The European Cartoon Award was founded in 2019 by the European Press Prize and Studio Europa Maastricht to encourage cartoonists in their essential work for freedom of expression.
Emanuele Del Rosso, Deputy Director of the ECA: “We have never needed political cartoons this badly. In a period such as the one we’re in, where multiple wars unfold, humanitarian catastrophes, and extremisms divide people, cartoons can help us steady our course and understand what happens around us. It is going to be a very important fifth season of the ECA.”
Essential for democracy
Cartoons are an indispensable part of the public debate. In the universal language of the image, they transcend borders and put their finger on the sore spot. Averse to conventions, challenging, creative, and playful, cartoons are the hallmark of an open European society.
Gonny Willems, director of Studio Europa Maastricht: “In these unprecedented times of polarisation, there is a lack of understanding for the perspective of the other. Cartoons can offer an opening to the truth of the other with irony, humour, and sharpness.”
Jennifer Athanasiou-Prins, Executive Director of the European Press Prize: “One of the reasons for the creation of the European Cartoon Award was the strain of the shrinking space for freedom of expression that cartoonists experience. This is exactly why we celebrate cartoonists’ work with the European Cartoon Award: to encourage them to continue their essential task of contributing to the public debate. Being a source of pride and validation is crucial – we also experience that at the European Press Prize – to empower both journalists and cartoonists to keep holding power to account.”
The Panel of Judges of the ECA 2024
The jury for the 2023 edition consists, among others, of the winner of the European Cartoon Award 2022: the British Ben Jennings. He will work together with Dutch cartoonist Jip van den Toorn, Dutch Professor Stine Jensen, French journalist Catherine André, and Iranian cartoonist Sanaz Bagheri.
About the European Press Prize
The mission of the European Press Prize is to celebrate and encourage European journalism of the highest quality, to help counter the effects of a transforming, pressured market and fragile press freedom – and to stimulate journalists to keep contributing to the quality of European journalism. The European Press Prize was founded by seven independent European foundations with strong media connections, all of which count excellence and public service as part of their collective challenge.
About Studio Europa Maastricht
Studio Europa Maastricht is a centre of expertise for Europe-related debate and research founded in 2018 and supported by the partners of the Maastricht, Working on Europe program: Maastricht University, the Province of Limburg, and the City of Maastricht. Together we aim to position Maastricht, the capital of Limburg, as a meeting place for citizen dialogue and debate and establish a centre of excellence for research on Europe and European integration.
For more information about the European Cartoon Award, please contact emanuele@europeanpressprize.com