NOW Congratulates Ann Telnaes on Pulitzer Prize

by Lisa Bennett-Haigney, Communications Director

On April 17, 2001, Ann Telnaes won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning, making her only the second woman to achieve this distinction. For the last year, the National NOW Times has spotlighted Telnaes’ feminist/progressive cartoons on the Viewpoint page. NOW editors found themselves choosing her work over and over because of her strong and insightful focus on women’s issues, particularly reproductive rights. The NOW Web site recently added Telnaes’ cartoons as a regular feature, posting new, full-color art three to four times a week.

The editorial cartooning Pulitzer is awarded for originality, editorial effectiveness, quality of drawing and pictorial effect. The first woman to win this award, Signe Wilkinson, was also a regular contributor to the National NOW Times at the time of her honor in 1992.

In the world of political cartoons, Telnaes stands out not just because she’s a woman in a male-dominated field, but also thanks to her bold, stylized artwork. Telnaes’ cartoons have appeared in publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and USA Today, and she has won numerous other awards.

Telnaes was born in Stockholm, Sweden, and graduated from the California Institute of the Arts. Before becoming a cartoonist, Telnaes worked in animation at various studios around the world, including Warner Brothers and Walt Disney Imagineering. She began editorial cartooning on a regular basis after the Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas hearings. Having had her own experience with gender harassment and being outraged at the Senators’ attitude toward the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace, Telnaes was inspired to become a political cartoonist.

Telnaes currently lives in Washington, D.C., and her cartoons regularly comment on the current Bush administration’s hostility toward women and the environment.