Ann Telnaes creates editorial cartoons in various mediums — animation, visual essays, live sketches and traditional print — for The Washington Post. She won the Pulitzer Prize in 2001 for her print cartoons and the National Cartoonists Society’s Reuben for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year for 2016. She was awarded the international EWK Award, named after the legendary Swedish cartoonist Ewert Karlsson in 2021 and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for her illustrated reporting and cartooning in 2022. Recently she was awarded the 2023 Herblock Prize for editorial cartooning.
Telnaes’ print work was shown in a solo exhibition at the Great Hall in the Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress in 2004. Her first book, Humor’s Edge, was published by Pomegranate Press and the Library of Congress in 2004. A collection of Vice President Cheney cartoons, Dick, was self-published by Telnaes and Sara Thaves in 2006. Her most recent book, Trump’s ABC, was published by Fantagraphics in 2018. Telnaes’ work has also been exhibited in Paris, Jerusalem, and Lisbon.
Telnaes attended California Institute of the Arts and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, specializing in character animation. Before beginning her career as an editorial cartoonist, Telnaes worked for several years as a designer for Walt Disney Imagineering. She has also animated and designed for various studios in Los Angeles, New York, London, and Taiwan.
Other awards include: The National Cartoonists Society Reuben division award for Editorial Cartoons (2016), The National Press Foundation’s Berryman Award (2006) – The Maggie Award, Planned Parenthood (2002) – 15th Annual International Dutch Cartoon Festival (2007) – The National Headliner Award (1997) – The Population Institute XVII Global Media Awards (1996) – Sixth Annual Environmental Media Awards (1996)
Her television and radio appearances include: – The Newshour with Jim Lehrer – C-Span – NPR – BBC radio -Sirius XM Radio- The Editors, World Affairs Television, Canada.
Telnaes is a past president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists (AAEC) and is a member of the National Cartoonists Society (NCS).