Guardian cartoonists had a successful night at the Political Cartoon of the Year awards 2021.
Ben Jennings was named political cartoonist of the year for his portfolio throughout a turbulent year, while Henny Beaumont won Covid cartoon of the year for Lost Generation, a cartoon published in June about the plight of young people during the pandemic.
Accepting his honour, Jennings, whose work also appears in the i newspaper, said the year offered rich material to cartoonists: “The versatility of cartooning in its ability to take on subjects, capture moods and evoke a variety of responses made it a worthy medium to tackle a year like 2021. I never imagined when I was a kid scribbling with crayons that I’d be doing much the same as an adult to document a plague in real time.”
Accepting her award, Beaumont said she was personally grateful but placed her work in a wider context: “Winning this award has felt really significant for me and it feels like there is a real move towards appreciating and recognising the contribution women are making to political cartooning and I am proud of being part of this movement.”
She also referred to those whose lives she depicted in the winning image. “The cartoon is dedicated to all the young people who missed out on so much during lockdown, had such a tough time and took so seriously their responsibility to protect those more vulnerable than themselves.”
