Citing the use of "strong images to connect with readers while conveying layers of meaning in a few words," Buffalo News editorial cartoonist Adam Zyglis won a Pulitzer Prize on Monday. Zyglis is the third cartoonist from The News to win the top prize in journalism, following Bruce Shanks and Tom Toles. He says he is excited and honored to win the prestigious award for editorial cartooning after ten years at the newspaper.
The winner says he started drawing as a child and was the cartoonist for Canisius College's student newspaper, The Griffin. The Alden native says Buffalo is a city filled with opportunities for cartooning.
"It's a perfect town for it, an engaged readership in an old-school type of community, in a great way, good sense of community and an engaged public. I'm in a great place and, being from here, I'm just so blessed to be able to do what I love in my hometown," Zyglis told WBFO.
Zyglis has also been honored by his peers as president-elect of the Association of Editorial Cartoonists. He says the cartoon from last year which he remembers most vividly is a production on global warming.
"It was a four-part argument basically showing that over different centuries, people, the common people have accepted things in science. It was a global warning cartoon but it went at it in a different way," Zyglis said.
Zyglis says he does his cartoons the old fashioned way, with pen and ink. A gallery of some of his work, including the one he spoke of, can be viewed here.
