Readers of the Charlotte Observer know cartoonist Kevin Siers has the art of the skewer down. Monday he was recognized with a Pulitzer Prize.
Good cartoons frame the irony, the humor and often the grim view of a situation. They cause a stir, too. Siers came to the Observer in 1987 as the PTL scandal was winding down.
“My editor would have to write columns based on the reaction of some of these cartoons,” says Siers.
Siers skewered plenty of people last year including Republicans in control of state politics, the rollout of Obamacare and the Catholic Church. One cartoon submitted as part of his Pulitzer portfolio shows three cardinals. One hopes the next pope will be from Latin America, another from Africa, and the third from Asia. Beside them, a nun prays for a pope from the 21st century.
“I spend a lot of time scribbling and free associating and just randomly coming up with images and comparing and contrasting. Then, the image will just pop out of nowhere,” explains Siers.
That’s how he came up with his favorite last year. It was an editorialon Congress’s refusal to pass a gun control bill.
Siers said he was shaking when he found out he won.
“To have the support of co-workers and stuff, kind of chokes a guy up.”
This is the Charlotte Observer’s fifth Pulitzer. Three of them have gone to cartoonists. But this is the first for Siers.