Paul Gilligan, “Pooch Café,” recently attended Green Acres School in Stone Creek Ontario as a Universal Press Syndicate: News Release:Cartoonist Fights Illiteracy with Visit to Ontario Middle SchoolStone Creek, ON (06/16/2006) Paul Gilligan is the ?Top Dog? of cartoonists, according to the kids at Green Acres School in Stone Creek, Ontario….  It supports community-based programs that emphasize adult literacy and non-formal education for both children and adults.As Gilligan made his way through the halls of Green Acres School, he was greeted with the sounds of kids ecstatically calling out, ?There he is!

Zits has joined several other comic features to be added as premium content for mobile phone users.� Airborne Entertainment announced that it has signed a deal with King Features to allow Zits to be used on mobile phones.

From the Toledo Blade comes a snippet of good news for Kirk Walters, their editorial cartoonist, who was awarded “Best in Ohio” by the Press Club of Cleveland’s 28th annual Excellence in Journalism competition.

For the last three years I took an active part in various cartoon competitions around the globe (just a month ago I was awarded by the Award of Excellence at the National Press Club of Canada International Cartoon Contest.)  As a byproduct of all these activities I have got tons of info about cartoon competitions, awards, professional cartoonists etc. So the idea to create a free, available for everybody informational service came naturally.The site map is very simple, I practically do not provide graphic, concentrated on the content.

From Star Pulse blog and a Universal Press press release comes news that Aaron McGruder is trying to get an Emmy for his Boondocks television show by shaming the producers through a series of advertisements…. But, f**k it, we’ll try anyway.”Apparently the ads are geared to remind those involved in the Emmys that African-Americans have not faired well in the annual ceremony.We’ll see how it goes.

Brian Walker who is the writer behind “Hi and Lois” and “Beetle Bailey” will be a special guest at the San Diego Comic-Con this July 20-23rd….  Brian wrote the book cataloguing the exhibit.Brian also attended the New York Comic-Con with his father and brother earlier this year.

The Albany Democrat-Herald recently wrote that they are adding a new serial comic strip “Sudden Squail” to their line up and then offered an explanation as to why the paper still ran serials such as “Judge Parker” and “Rex Morgan” and a went as far as suggesting that the cartoonists and writers should add a “what happened last week…” panel to keep people up to date on the goings on.lEvery once in a while somebody asks why we still run those ancient comic strips.The answer is tradition, but if nobody reads a comic, tradition is not going to keep it alive forever.

In our mailbag ….  .:Bloggers stoked reaction this week to a June 7 cartoon by The Republic’s Steve Benson.

Aaron Taylor, editorial cartoonist for the Daily Herald, writes in to remind me that Pat Bagley wasn’t the only Utah Headliners award winner this last weekend.  Aaron was awarded 1st place for editorial cartooning in the Division B category in the recent Society of Professional Journalists awards.

According to E&P, “Blondie” is the top comic feature in the Times-Tribune (Scranton, PA)…. Schulz of United Media (which began syndicating the comic in 1950), “The Family Circus” by Bil and Jeff Keane of King (1960), “Beetle Bailey” by Mort Walker of King (1950), and “Hi and Lois” by Brian Walker, Greg Walker, and Chance Browne of King (1954).”Mary Worth” finished last among the Scranton newspaper’s 36 comics.

Ruben Bolling was recently awarded second place for cartoons by the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies last week….  According to the Universal Press press release, Ruben has been a finalist for the last six years taking top prize in 2002 and 2003.

Daryl Cagle has posted video of Dick Locher and this year’s Locher Award winner William Warren talking about the award.  He has also posted the four award submission cartoons over on his site.

With the release of Ann Coulter’s new book, she’s generated a lot of press and controversy over some of the things she has written – and a few are questioning the reaction from the public who’s knickers were in a complete twist when ultra-liberal Ted Rall made some of the same points earlier….  Editor and Publisher writers Dave Astor and Greg Mitchell have asked Universal Press if any newspapers have cancelled their subscriptions to Coulter to which they replied no.Is there an example of a media bias or the power of imagery over words?

Salt Lake Tribune editorial cartoonist Pat Bagley was honored by the Utah Headliners Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists as the best editorial cartoonist in the state in an awards evening last Friday.  Pat has also released a follow up book to his “Curious George Goes To War” called “Curious George Is Watching You” which is getting lots of press here in the conservative state of Utah.

MetroWest Daily News editorial cartoonist, Dave Granlund’s work is on display now through the during the month of July at the Danforth Museum of Art. The exhibit is called “Pulling It All Together” and features artwork from his recent book.