Minnesota native Ward Sutton wins major award for editorial cartoons

Ward Sutton/photo by Macky Alston

Minnesotan Ward Sutton has won the Herblock Award, which recognizes the very best in editorial cartooning. For those who practice the craft, it's the next best thing to snagging a Pulitzer. Sutton has worked for the Boston Globe since 2008, but his cartoons have also appeared in the New Yorker, the Onion, The Village Voice and Rolling Stone. He has also created posters for entertainers ranging from Pearl Jam to John Leguizamo.

Sutton, who grew up in the Twin Cities, got his first big break contributing to the Edina Sun community newspaper while he was in middle school. His first politically oriented strip, "Ward's Cleaver," was a regular feature in the now defunct Twin Cities Reader.

"Ward Sutton's satire doesn't just bite," Stephen Colbert once said. "It maims. He's the perfect cartoonist for our discordant times."

Sutton, who currently lives in Fort Collins, Col., will receive a $15,000 cash prize and a sterling silver Tiffany trophy.