THE National Cartoon Gallery’s prestigious Rotary Cartoon Awards competition, now in its 33rd year, has been won by David Rowe.

David Rowe, who produces daily cartoons for the Financial Review, won three major awards in the exhibition.

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David, along with numerous cartoonists, attended the presentation night on 25 February at the Cartoon Gallery at The Bunker in Coffs Harbour.

“This is the largest and oldest cartooning competition in Australia and has attracted entries from most of our leading cartoonists over its 33-year history,” said Paul McKeon, Chairman, The National Cartoon Gallery.

David has been entering this competition since 1995 and has won the top award on twelve occasions – more than any other Australian cartoonist.

As well as winning Cartoon of the Year, he also won awards in both the Political and Caricature Categories.

This year the winner for the Open Category was Jason Chatfield for his work ‘Corona Virus 1 – 3’.

Jason is the current Ginger Meggs artist and resides in New York.

He sent a video of acceptance and said, “This is the first time I have won and am devastated I had to cancel my trip.
“I drew this piece while I thought I was dying.”

The Merit Award in the Open Category went to Jed Dunstan.

Winner for the Sport Category went to Lindsay Foyle, with Harry Bruce taking the Merit award.

Ian Jones won for the Comic Strip Category with the Merit award going to Mark Lynch.

As mentioned, the Political Category winner was David Rowe, with Lindsay Foyle receiving the Merit award.

David Rowe also took the top prize for the Caricature Category with Steve Panozzo receiving the Merit award.

This is the first time Steve has won a Rotary Cartoon Award.

“I am thrilled to have won for this work of Kerry O’Brien,” he said.

The winner for the Special Category – In our backyard bubble – was given to Andrew Fyfe, with Phil Day receiving the Merit Award.

This year the Gallery had a People’s Choice award with the public getting to vote for their favourite cartoon.

The Open Category winner was Dave Blumenthal (aka Sandwich Bag Dad) with ‘Wait Linda!’

The Sports Category went to Steve Panozzo for ‘Fishy QR Code’.

Jason Chatfield won in the Comic Category for ‘Ginger in quarantine part 1’ and David Rowe won for his work of Barnaby Joyce titled ‘Best in Show’.

The Special Category went to Vince Steele for ‘Well, crap!’

Deemed a “highly competitive field”, the judges’ choices were well received.

Christine Durham, Cartoon Gallery Manager thanked the judges – Member for Coffs Harbour Gurmesh Singh, former Cartoon Gallery manager Margaret Cameron and local architect Annie Gee – noting the hard job they had on their hands.

“The last couple of years have provided plenty of inspiration for the cartoonists to draw from and they didn’t fail to deliver,” said Paul McKeon.

“The judges acknowledged the difficulty in choosing the winners with such a high standard of entries in this year’s competition.

“Congratulations to all the finalists and winners.”

Jay Clowes, past President of Rotary Coffs City, told News Of The Area, “It is amazing for a regional centre to be home to Australia’s National Cartoon Gallery which was founded by two members of Rotary, who also started the Rotary Awards exhibition all those years ago.”

The 2022 Rotary Cartoon Awards will open in the second half of this year with both professional and enthusiast cartoonists encouraged to enter so get those pencils sharpened and start planning your work now.

Follow the National Cartoon Gallery on Facebook or visit their website on www.nationalcartoongallery.com.au for further details.

By Andrea FERRARI