Ann Telnaes creates editorial cartoons in various mediums — animation, visual essays, live sketches and traditional print. She has won the Pulitzer Prize twice for her editorial cartoons in 2001 and 2025. Ann was awarded the National Cartoonists Society’s Reuben for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year in 2016 and the international EWK Award, named after the legendary Swedish cartoonist Ewert Karlsson, in 2021. Ann was also awarded the Herblock Prize for editorial cartooning in 2023. After working for The Washington Post for over sixteen years, Telnaes resigned after a cartoon she submitted was rejected because it criticized billionaire tech and media executives, including Jeff Bezos, for trying to curry favor with President Trump.
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).