Graeme MacKay wins Rex Babin Memorial Award

From The Graeme Gallery on Substack.

Over the weekend I found out that I took top prize for a prestigious award through the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. 

The Rex Babin Memorial Award for Excellence in Local Cartooning also recognizes work reflecting state and provincial themes. 

 

While the scope of my work no longer includes much in terms of city themes, my provincial cartoons, particularly ones skewering our own Doug Ford caught the attention of jurists. 

There isn’t a category for editorial cartooning with the Ontario Newspaper Awards. 

Provincial themes, I have found, fall outside of the criteria noted by jurists in Canada’s National Newspaper Awards, as well as the World Press Freedom Canada contest. 

So it took an international award to finally recognize the results of much of my work dealing with sub-national themes. 

For this I am grateful to the AAEC (soon to be renamed, as voted on this past weekend, The Association of Political Artists.)

The irony of a Canadian receiving this recognition from my American colleagues is not lost on me. 

It proves that regardless of what short-sighted changes are being made on the world stage, our support for one another and friendship will always be tariff free.

I wish I could have been there in Sacramento in person to be handed this prestigious award from the 2025 winner Clay Jones, as I was several years ago in 2018 to witness J.D. Crowe's recognition, and Dennis Draughon's virtual acceptance at the Montréal convention in 2024. 

I'm in very good company with them among all other talented recipients of the Rex Babin award. 

I want to recognize the other finalists, Steve Greenberg, Phil Hands and Marlin Lavanhar as tough competition.

I won this in absentia. 

Yeah, I’m one of those schmucks - but they fully understand about the travel boycotts etc. 

No Canadians were in attendance at this years confab, sadly. 

Later this week the cool surf board trophy will be handed to me by an AAEC envoy when we gather for our own Canadian cartoonist convention in Niagara Falls.