Rome (Georgia) News-Tribune editorial cartoonist Mike Lester has once again garnered one of the most prestigious awards in journalism: the Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi Award for Editorial Cartooning in newspapers under 50,000 circulation. The awards recognize the best in professional journalism in print, radio, television and online for 2010. Lester won the award for his work in 2006, too.
Lester’s cartoons, distinguished, in my view, by their antic exaggeration, are published on the Opinion page of the daily News-Tribune (and online at RN-T.com) as well as all around the country through syndication with Cagle Cartoons. The paper’s report went on: “In addition to his work as an editorial cartoonist, Lester is an artist whose work ranges from advertising and marketing graphics to illustrations for children's books and licensed products. A new book he illustrated, Scritch-Scratch, recently received a glowing review in the New York Times and his A Is for Salad made the paper’s Top 10 list. The University of Georgia alum has spent the past 25 years as a commercial artist, illustrator, cartoonist, animator and writer. He's been with the Rome News-Tribune since 2002.
Said Lester: "I'm quite honored to win the Sigma Delta Chi Award and want to thank our entire newspaper staff, but specifically our editorial department — Kathy Davis and John Willis — whose job it is to reel me in from time to time. They might need to tighten the drag a bit. But mostly I want to thank our readers, advertisers and everyone in our community who depend on the Rome News-Tribune to stay in touch with their community and their world. An informed populace is indeed vital."
When I was studiously conversing with Lester at the Memorial Day weekend meeting of the National Cartoonists Society, he remarked that the Rome News-Tribune was the best paper with circulation under 50,000 in the country. I asked him the names of others. He stopped. Thought hard. Then said: “I guess there aren’t any. Sorta takes the glow off the award, doesn’t it?”
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