Local cartoonist triumphs over some of country’s best

WHITE RIVER – A local cartoonist’s outstanding work was honoured at this year’s Standard Bank Sikuvile Awards in Johannesburg last week.

Jack “Dr Jack” Swanepoel from White River jointly won the best editorial cartoon of the year award with friend and colleague, John Curtis.

The awards are sponsored by Standard Bank. It promotes high standards and integrity within the print and digital media industries while recognising role players in the sectors.

Their winning cartoon, titled, Munich 1935-2015, was published on the Eyewitness News website.

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It compared the Germany of 1935 to the current one accepting Syrian refugees. Swanepoel could not attend the ceremony but his colleague, Curtis, accepted the joint award on their behalf.

“I was competing with the best in the industry,” he told Lowvelder. “People like Jonathan Shapiro, also known as Zapiro, Alastair Findlay and Wilson Mgobhozi were finalists, so it was a tough game.”

Swanepoel started working as a cartoonist for the National Parks Board and has also done work for Mail & Guardian, Sunday Times, The Star and Pretoria News.

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He has been working as a freelance cartoonist since 1992.

Swanepoel added that his father taught him a thing or two about cartooning.

“My father was a cartoonist but he never earned a single cent from that,” he said. “I used to sit and watch while he was doing his work.I later fell in love with it. My father advised me to take it seriously.”

It is not the first time his outstanding work has received recognition.

In 2013 he won an international accolade in Berlin during the 50th anniversary of the African Union.

“It felt great to have been awarded among other worthy role players for my contribution to the industry,” Swanepoel concluded.