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CONTACT: Jeremy Dubert Mary Anne Grimes 212-293-8627 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE “Monty” Wins National Cartoonists Society Award for Best Newspaper Strip; Bill Schorr Wins for Best Editorial Cartoon NEW YORK, May 27, 2008 — Monty, the quirky comic created by Jim Meddick, has won the National Cartoonists Society’s Award for Best Newspaper Strip, while Bill Schorr took home the award for Best Editorial Cartoon. The NCS announced these winners at its 62nd Annual Reuben Awards Banquet on May 25 in New Orleans. The complete list of winners can be found on the NCS Web site: http://www.reuben.org/ncs/news.asp. Monty is a funny, eccentric comic strip that trashes tacky TV shows and offers absurdist commentary on everything from hosing down spider monkeys to the latest conspiracy theory. Monty’s skewed sensibilities have earned it a fanatical following on the Web (at www.comics.com) and on newspaper comics pages on six continents, making this daily and Sunday strip from Newspaper Enterprise Association a cult favorite among comics readers worldwide. Monty Montahue is at the center of this hilarious comic strip’s outrageous story lines. A brainy, bumbling bachelor who’s unlucky in work and in love, Monty shares his home with Fleshy, a hairless cat, and Mr. Pi, a super-logical extraterrestrial. The wacky cast of characters is rounded out by Moondog, Monty’s beer-guzzling buddy; Loco Ohno, Monty’s crazy ex-girlfriend; and Pilsner the parrot. Formerly titled “Robotman,” Monty lampoons a wide range of topics. Explains Meddick, “I’ve tried to create the comic strip equivalent of ‘Monty Python’s Flying Circus.’ The name ‘Monty’ is a nod to the influence that show had on my humor. In my cartoon, just about anything can happen – this way, the ideas and characters always stay fresh.” This is Bill Schorr’s second NCS award for Best Editorial Cartoon, having also received the honor in 1993. He was previously nominated for the award in 1997 and 1998. In 1993, Schorr also captured first place in the prestigious Fischetti Editorial Cartoon
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Competition, and he was named top editorial cartoonist of the year for 1992 by the National Press Foundation. According to directors of the NPF, Schorr was chosen “for his ability to combine strong commentary with pointed humor, and for his deft touch with the cartoonist’s pen.” Schorr attacks the issues with sharp wit and powerful visuals. His irreverent cartoons, which comment on everything from politics to television, are distributed to newspapers four times each week by United Feature Syndicate. Schorr’s cartoons regularly appear in Time, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report and The New Republic. His drawings have also been featured on the “NewsHour,” “Face the Nation” and other television news programs. Schorr launched his editorial cartooning career in 1973 at The Kansas City Star. In 1978, he moved to The Los Angeles Herald Examiner, where he remained for nearly a decade before returning to The Star. Schorr was staff cartoonist for the New York Daily News from 1997 to 2001. In addition to his editorial cartoons, Schorr creates the comic strip “The Grizzwells” for Newspaper Enterprise Association. The National Cartoonists Society (www.reuben.org) is the world’s largest and most prestigious organization of professional cartoonists. Founded in 1946 by a small group of cartoonists, the NCS currently has more than 600 members in 12 chartered and active Regional Chapters. The Reuben Award and division awards are voted on by a combination of the general membership and special juries. The prestigious Reuben Award, a statuette designed by and named after the NCS’ first president, Rube Goldberg, is presented annually to the NCS’ “Cartoonist of the Year.” United Feature Syndicate is a division of United Media, the information and entertainment company that develops and markets 150 comic strips and editorial features worldwide, including Peanuts, Dilbert, Get Fuzzy, Pearls Before Swine, F Minus, Miss Manners, Nat Hentoff and Sense & Sensitivity by Harriette Cole. United Media (www.comics.com) is a wholly owned subsidiary of The E.W. Scripps Company. # # # 052708
NOTE TO EDITORS AND ART DIRECTORS:
Please use this art to illustrate a story about Monty by Jim Meddick, winner of the 2008 National Cartoonists Society’s Award for Best Newspaper Strip, and Bill Schorr, winner of the NCS Award for Best Editorial Cartoon.
For more information, please call Mary Anne Grimes at 212-293-8626 or 800-221-4816 or e-mail magrimes@unitedmedia.com.
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