WHO IS THE AAEC?

Association of american editorial cartoonists

are you an editorial cartoonist? Do you draw about politics? Are you a comics journalist? then you belong in the aaec.

For over 60 years, the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists has been the professional association concerned with promoting the interests of staff, freelance and student editorial cartoonists in North America. This includes political illustrators and the growing field of comics journalists.

We are a network of cartoonists who support the profession of editorial cartooning on all platforms, from print to digital. We are active in the defense of free speech and a free press, the very foundation of political cartooning.

We encourage and mentor young editorial cartooning talent. We aim to provide a common meeting ground for cartoonists of all political persuasions to exchange views, meet socially, and showcase creative and technological innovation.

We work closely with the Cartoonists Rights Network, an international organization looking to publicize oppression and attacks on political cartoonists by foreign governments, and stand with other international groups that support the human, civil, and artistic rights of cartoonists around the world.

Cartoon credit: Liza Donnelly

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What doES the AAEC offer?

THE CONVENTION Our annual convention is the largest gathering of political cartoonists, editorial illustrators and graphic journalists in the world. Held every fall in a different North American city, or on the campus of a major university, cartoonists and satirists meet for four entertaining days of informative panels, timely guest speakers, workshops, pub crawls, and networking.

We often invite the public to join us for big events. In 2019, the AAEC will be teaming up with Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, to be a big part of their CXC celebration in September, and we plan to head to Ontario in 2020 to join the Association of Canadian Cartoonists for a festival in May. THE WEB SITE Members can take advantage of our site at editorialcartoonists.com to post and archive all their cartoons online, with Regular members’ current work appearing on a rotating basis in the Daily Cartoon Gallery. They can post bios, promote their books or Patreon, offer themselves for public speaking engagements, and catch up on industry news on our daily feed. THE “L” The AAEC still maintains an e-mail listserv that instantly connects you with over a hundred other member cartoonists. Good for getting quick advice, posting alerts, and generating lively (and we do mean lively) debates about cartooning and the publishing industry.

THE NOTEBOOK Members will also receive the Notebook, our annual magazine that chronicles the events that affected AAEC members and editorial cartoonists over the year.

THE AWARDS The AAEC supports cartoonists with two annual awards: The AAEC/John Locher Memorial Award is given each year to a promising cartoonist under the age of 25 who produces editorial cartoons, web comics with a political bent, or comics journalism. The winner receives an all-expenses paid trip to that year’s AAEC convention and a $1000 cash prize.

The Rex Babin Memorial Award for Excellence in Local Cartooning honors the best of those cartoonists who focus on state and local matters. The award helps to focus attention on an important niche of cartoonists that the late Rex Babin felt was regularly overlooked by journalism contests.

And sometimes something more It used to be that every editorial cartoonist was on the staff of a newspaper, and came to conventions to meet presidents and prime ministers, get job leads, hobnob with representatives from the syndicates, and complain about their editors. Those days are pretty much gone (well, except for complaining about editors).

Today, less than half of our members work for a daily newspaper or magazine: most are freelancers with the few remaining syndicates or websites like The Nib. Now we meet to gossip and share tips on publishing online. We’re not looking for job leads anymore so much as insight into how to stay relevant and involved as the very medium changes around us.

Yet being part of the AAEC is as important now as it was in the 20th Century. Our annual convention is still one of the best excuses to get out of the studio and meet other cartoonists — there is nothing like a face-to-face to get to know people and cement friendships. Join our Association and you might make some great connections that, a few years from now, may come in handy when you’re trying to launch a Kickstarter, or suddenly find yourself with a fatwa on your head.

Want to join? Want to come back?

To apply for membership in the AAEC, please go to our web site — www.editorialcartoonists.com — and download the form. Send us the completed application and a link to your publication or a website showing your current work so we can verify actual publication of your cartoons (you can also submit three tearsheets or other reproductions). Even in the age of the Internet, please allow at least 6-8 weeks for an answer.

Former members looking to rejoin will still have to go through a review process, but turnaround time will be quicker for those whose information is still in the system.

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membership in the aaecMembership is determined by a majority vote of the AAEC Board of Directors, which is composed of Regular member cartoonists elected annually to the position.

The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists has five categories of membership for those looking to join:

REGULAR Regular membership is open to professional cartoonists who publish editorial or political cartoons that appear on a regular basis in any regularly updated, recognized forum (including newspapers, magazines, and online news outlets), and are citizens or legal residents of the United States, Canada or Mexico. Regular dues: $150

RETIRED To be eligible for Retired membership, an editorial cartoonist must be a legal resident or citizen of the United States, Canada or Mexico, and must be retired from publishing editorial cartoons that appeared on a regular basis in any regularly updated, recognized forum. Retired dues: $60

Both Regular and Retired members are eligible to vote in membership meetings and in elections, and run for office.

ASSOCIATE Any citizen or resident of the United States, Canada or Mexico who is not a cartoonist but has a professional interest in the field of editorial cartooning may be eligible for Associate Membership. Associate dues: $150

STUDENT Any student enrolled at a college or university in the United States, Canada or Mexico who produces editorial cartoons on a regular basis for a regular college newspaper may be eligible for Student membership. Student dues: $50

INTERNATIONAL Any person or cartoonist of any citizenship or nationality outside of North America with a professional interest in editorial cartooning who does not meet the qualifications of Regular or Associate membership, may be eligible for International Associate membership. International Associate dues: $50

Association of american editorial cartoonists

What they say about the AAEC

“A competitive, overbearing and sarcastic group, the AAEC appealed to me immediately.”

— Clay Bennett, 2002 Pulitzer Prize winner

“Okay, okay, I know I said I was going to blog from the AAEC convention, but I truly didn’t have a moment to spare.”

—Jen Sorensen, The Nib, 2017 Pulitzer Finalist

“I can definitely say that without all of you I would have stopped cartooning early in my career. Together we’re so

much stronger. The friendship, support (and even competition) that is all a part of our organization is vital to keeping

the art form alive and growing.”—Mark Fiore, animator and 2010 Pulitzer Prize winner

“The AAEC has become my second family and the annual conventions a true place of refuge for me.”

—Rob Rogers, cartoonist and AAEC President 2006-2007

“The AAEC can best be described as a brotherhood. It’s a camaraderie among those who have a rare ability to point out

injustices, inconsistencies and ineptitude in our society in a way that causes readers to chuckle or curse out loud.”

—Alan Gardner, former editor of The Daily Cartoonist

“... some of the smartest and funniest people on the planet.”—J.P. Trostle, AAEC Digital Editor, on NPR

www.editorialcartoonists.com

Cover credits, clockwise from upper left: Jen Sorensen, Signe Wilkinson, Keith Knight, Gary Varvel, Scott Stantis, Wes Tyrell, Sage Stossel, Kevin Siers, Tim Campbell