Rob Rogers’ “Brewed on Grant” wins The Rex Babin Memorial Award Excellence in Local Cartooning
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The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists announced Rob Rogers, and his “Brewed on Grant” in the Pittsburgh Current, has won the 2020 Rex Babin Memorial Award for Excellence in Local Cartooning.
From the Pittsburgh Current notice:
“Brewed on Grant,” a strip with musings on local politics and current events, originally ran for more than 20 years in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, starting out as black and white and later implementing full colors. After the Post-Gazette’s infamous decision to fire Rogers in 2018, the strip ended until Pittsburgh Current began publishing it in August 2019. The cartoon was also awarded the best in editorial cartooning this year by the Press Club of Western Pennsylvania.
Being awarded for local cartooning is especially exciting for Rogers because of the value he believes local cartooning has.
“The cliche is that all politics are local, but that is really truly where changes can be made and where people’s lives are affected, is on the local level,” Rogers said. “I think it’s really important to have checks and balances on that level to keep a check on the people in power so that corruption doesn’t happen.
The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists announced the award this past weekend during their annual “convention” (a virtual and much diminished gathering, since the annual convention was cancelled earlier this Coronovirus year) partnering with the (also virtual) 2020 CXC festival.
“For decades, Rob Rogers has been a national leader in our profession, deftly satirizing not just national politicians, but also keeping a close watch on Pittsburgh politics and culture. He has been our AAEC president, and he is beloved for his manner and humor. He’s a courageous fighter for our profession, and at a critical moment stood up for his work and right to comment independently. His portfolio is a multi-panel strip called “Brewed on Grant,” and was a staple item in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, and he continues to do it to this day (in the alt-weekly Current). Rob is a talented artist and concise writer, making multiple sly references throughout his cartoons he submitted to the judges.”
Marc Murphy was named Finalist.
“Marc Murphy is a trenchant, sophisticated observer of Louisville and Kentucky, and his work appears regularly in the Louisville Courier Journal—when he’s not a practicing attorney and former elected official and activist. Marc’s cartoons are bold, simple, and powerful, and, more importantly, brave and thoughtful. His unadorned style speaks perfectly to power, and he is a true local leader for social justice and police reform in Louisville, as well as regularly skewering Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. He’s also an army veteran, and his son is a US Army Ranger. Marc believes in service, and he lives it each day in his fine cartoons.”
above: © Marc Murphy for the Louisville Courier Journal
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