Missed It: Jack Ohman Won The Pulitzer Last Week



Jack Ohman of the Sacramento Bee won the editorial cartooning category in this year's Pulitzer Prizes, announced last week. Ohman was cited for "cartoons that convey wry, rueful perspectives through sophisticated style that combines bold line work with subtle colors and textures." That's a fanciful way of saying that Ohman is a cartoonist in full bloom, with a unique perspective and the ability to convey it in visually interesting terms. While you may not agree with everything he has to say -- I sure don't -- you never suspect Jack Ohman of cynically piecing together an opinion for rhetorical effect or using his skill drawing to avoid working something out in his own head. Covering editorial cartoons in the 2010 has become less like following a minor sport and more like covering a single, barnstorming team. Ohman is batting somewhere in the heart of that line-up, between the two and sixth positions. It's a solid, laudable choice.

While I somehow missed posting it here, I have been following the story. The runners up were Matt Davies and Steve Sack which means that for this year at least the Pulitzers stuck with traditional staff cartoonists. They've flirted with alt-types for years in that runner-up position and someone always suggests that someday soon they may try to rope in infographic-type presentation into the category. I liked Michael Cavna's report on one of the personal narrative aspects of this story, that Ohman moved from Oregon to the Bee to replace a close friend of his, the late Rex Babin (1962-2012). I'm also a big fan of congratulatory articles like this one. Winning a Pulitzer is a first sentence of your obituary level news story and should be treated as such -- although that sounds grim as hell when I put it that way, right? What I mean is that it's a big deal, and people in that industry recognize it and despite what I'm sure are a million complains about the program people tend to feel good for those who take home that hardware.

You can see Ohman's submission here.
 
posted 12:55 am PST | Permalink
 

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