Michael Cavna has details on the winners of this year’s Award for Courage in Editorial Cartooning presented by the Cartoonists Rights Network International. The award is presented to “a cartoonist in great danger who has demonstrated exceptional courage in the exercise of free-speech rights under extraordinary circumstances.”
The winners this year are Kanika Mishra from India and Palestinian Majda Shaheen.
In the face of death threats against her and her family, the Mumbai-based Kanika Mishra took on the “outrageous hypocrisy” of popular religious leader Asaram Bapu, who was accused of raping a 16-year-old, CRNI says. Bapu was eventually arrested and jailed.
“Kanika, like some cartoonists who find themselves under pressure, refused to bend or compromise her art,” Russell tells The Post’s Comic Riffs. “With every new phone threat or attack, her cartoons just got stronger and stronger.”
Through her cartooning, Shaheen “depicts her view on the relationship between Ismail Haniyeh [senior political leader of Hamas] and the Al-Quds Brigades,” says CRNI, noting that she also faced threats of violence for her commentary.
They are the first women to win the award.
