Ruben Bolling, author of the “Tom the Dancing Bug” satirical weekly cartoon strip, has won the 2021 Clifford K. and James T. Berryman Award for Editorial Cartoons from the National Press Foundation. He accepted the award at the National Press Foundation’s May 4, 2022 awards dinner in Washington, D.C.
The judges cited Bolling’s mordant wit, superior artwork and inventive delivery. The cartoonist parodies well-known American cultural memes, from Charles M. Schultz’s Peanuts to Richard Scarry’s children’s books to The Matrix.
His 2021 work included biting commentary on the U.S. response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, and the Q-ANON conspiracy theory.
Ruben Bolling [below] accepts the Clifford K. & James T. Berryman Award for Editorial Cartoons at the May 4, 2022 National Press Foundation awards dinner in Washington, D.C. Bolling is the author of the “Tom the Dancing Bug” satirical weekly comic strip. The comic strip has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Village Voice, The Los Angeles Times and hundreds of other newspapers. “Tom the Dancing Bug” is also featured every week on BoingBoing.net, the premier online political community website, and GoComics.com, the largest comics website. His 2021 work included biting commentary on the U.S. response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and the Q-ANON conspiracy theory. Bolling is a two-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Editorial Cartooning, in 2019 and 2021.
Tim Campbell is the runner-up for the 2021 Berryman award for a hilarious and heartbreaking illustrated series based on comments the artist collected from middle school students during the pandemic. Campbell’s work is distributed by the Washington Post News Service & Syndicate, and his winning work appeared in the KidsPost and Youarecurent.com.
Full coverage of the 2022 National Press Foundation Awards Dinner.