As Mike Peterson reported (with photos!) Steve Stegelin won the Rex Babin Award last night.
And Steve’s home The Charleston City Paper proudly boasted of the honor:
Charleston City Paper cartoonist Steve Stegelin on Saturday won a major national award for cartoon excellence for the style and snark that Charlestonians have come to love for the last 18 years.
Stegelin received the “Rex Babin Memorial Award for Excellence in Local Cartooning” at the annual convention of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, which was held during the CXC Festival in Columbus, Ohio.
Said the judges:
“Steve Stegelin brings a fresh, independent drawing style and delicious snark — two things Rex Babin valued greatly — to the pages of the weekly Charleston City Paper. Stegelin’s fierce mockery of the entrenched power structure and the retrograde cultural politics of his red state feels meaningful.
“His bold and unique graphic style renders everyone, including Gov. Henry McMaster, as if they jumped off a 1990s alt-weekly comics page. His tongue-in-cheek tackling of cynical political redistricting, mask hysteria, local gun-culture and shameful treatment of women’s reproductive rights in South Carolina all led the jury to unanimously deem Stegelin’s entry worthy of the prize.”
Next year, Stegelin will join Davies and Rogers as a judge for the 2023 Babin Award, one of the only journalism awards for editorial cartoonists that is selected by a jury of peers.
The City Paper includes a gallery of Steve Stegelin selected satires.
The AAEC notes David Horsey was a finalist:
This was the second year in a row Seattle Times cartoonist David Horsey was named as a finalist. The judges wrote, “Dave Horsey is a skilled, decorated veteran editorial cartoonist who understands the importance of satirizing the local maladies of his beloved Seattle. Whether it’s toilet bowl cruise ships sullying Elliot Bay, snooty pretentiousness of Belleview (next to the mall), or childish city budget politics, David’s regional opinions in the Times are worthy of note.”