'CSM' Putting More Emphasis on Animation in Its Cartoonist Search

By: Dave Astor Animation is becoming a bigger part of editorial cartooning. It's also becoming a bigger part of the editorial cartoonist search being conducted by The Christian Science Monitor.

The paper is now actively seeking an editorial cartoonist to do animations -- "perhaps even interactive ones" -- for CSMonitor.com, said Clayton Jones, the Monitor chief editorial writer and editor of the commentary pages, when contacted today by E&P.

"Animations keep the attention of younger people, who are more visually oriented," added Jones.

The Monitor is seeking a successor to Clay Bennett, who left the paper last fall and started with the Chattanooga (Tenn.) Times Free Press last month.

The person picked could do animations solo or with the help of a Web person already working for the Monitor, and the person could also do print cartoons for the paper.

Jones noted that a small but growing number of editorial cartoonists are creating animations, and that Walt Handelsman (of Newsday in Melville, N.Y., and Tribune Media Services) won a Pulitzer Prize last year partly for his animation work.

Editorial-cartoon animation "is an exciting field," said Jones, adding that the Monitor would like to be involved in this still relatively new field and "see how it changes and grows. Who knows where the technology will lead?"

Jones said he doesn't know yet when the cartoonist will be chosen. In the meantime, Brian Barling continues to do cartoons for the paper. He was a Monitor staff cartoonist in the 1980s and a backup to Bennett for the past two years.

Bennett, a 2002 Pulitzer Prize winner whose Times Free Press cartoons are now syndicated by the Washington Post Writers Group (WPWG), spent a decade at the Monitor before leaving.

A Jan. 16 E&P Online story about the Monitor cartoon search can be seen here.

In addition, E&P's February print magazine includes an article about how Handelsman's animations are bringing more traffic to Newsday.com. That story quotes Handelsman and Nick Anderson (of the Houston Chronicle and WPWG), a 2007 Pulitzer cartoon finalist who also does animation.

Another feature in the February issue profiles Detroit Free Press/Copley News Service creator Mike Thompson, the other 2007 Pulitzer cartoon finalist. He, too, does animations as well as print cartoons.