Award Winner Speaks his Mind
By Bryan Munn
July 3, 2005
On June 4th, cartoonist Theo Moudakis won the National Newspaper Award, the most prestigious editorial cartooning award in Canada. Moudakis, the 40-year-old, Montreal-born, Toronto Star employee, has had quite a varied career, winning several awards for his work at the Halifax Daily News before moving to Toronto in 2000.
Moudakis sees the national award as having special significance, being his first win after three previous nominations.
"The award has little to do with job security (I have that) or peer recognition (I have that also). It's more of a personal milestone," he notes.
Indeed, with this win Moudakis joins a select group of cartoonists. Although the award has been given out every year for the last 55 years, there have only been 31 different winners, an indication that the award recognizes a certain level of achievement: some cartoonists with long, successful careers --like Duncan Macpherson and Terry Mosher (Aislin)-- have multiple wins to their names, while others manage only one or even none (like Doug Wright or Arch Dale, to name only two popular cartoonists who never won).
The National Newspaper Awards were founded by the Toronto Press Club in 1949, "to encourage excellence and reward achievement in newspaper work in this country," according to the the Awards website. Award categories recognize 20 different aspects of newspaper creation and have been administered by the Canadian Newspaper Association since 1989. The awards are run by a Board of Governors made up of editors, publishers, private citizens and members of the Toronto Press Club. The actual award is decided on by three judges, drawn from a pool of prominent media-types.
According to Moudakis, "Submission was a package of three cartoons of my own choosing, which makes the award more of a Cartoonist of the Year, rather than Cartoons of the Year. I wouldn't know which cartoons impressed the jury, but I made a strategic point of submitting an anti-U.S. cartoon, which was definitely not one of my favourites, but which I knew would go a long way with a Canadian jury. The strategy appeared to work."
Although he got his start in the shadow of Terry Mosher at the Montreal Gazette, Moudakis doesn't acknowledge any overt stylistic influences on his work.
"I've always hoped my work was rather non-traditional, which I suspect might have been a stumbling block to winning previously. Unlike most cartoonists I work in a number of styles, and took a gamble in submitting three very distinct styles. Previous winners seem to have won, among other factors, on the basis of their style-consistancy. I'm conscious of Canada's cartoon history, and of what the other cartoonists are doing, but, again, I tend to ignore that stuff and concentrate on doing what I want to do, regardless of tradition or what's always generally been expected of a cartoonist."
These expectations, along with the current state of newspaper cartooning, are something that he has definite opinions on. With a secure spot on staff at the Toronto Star and prominent space given to his work, he is optimistic about his own career and the health of the artform in general. However, Moudakis still has concerns about certain trends in the business.
"Cartoonists have been worried for years about the dismal state of cartooning, and how fewer newspapers have the desire for a staff cartoonist. I've always believed if you're good, you'll find work. I think the biggest problem in cartoondom today is the business of syndication. Syndicates can offer cartoons at a fraction of the price of hiring a full-time cartoonist, which itself is a problem, but the bigger problem is that cartoonists who work with syndicates often draw generic and unimaginative cartoons so that they can be quickly and easily sold. I think if anything this is what's really degenerating the craft as a whole."
With few exceptions, editorial cartoonists in Canada do not routinely suffer interference --governmental or editorial-- with their work. When asked about his own experiences, Moudakis has few complaints.
"I have a terrific relationship with my editor," he says. "He lets me do my thing, as long as it's within the taste-bounds of a family newspaper. So, no, I'm not concerned with censorship, and rarely get a 'no'."
As to his personal philosophy and political bent, Theo Moudakis doesn't confess any axes that need grinding. Although his work is critical of stupidity and hypocrisy in high places and he is known to draw cartoons that are ahead of the curve in terms of the sort of underdogs he champions, he maintains a cool, bemused demeanor:
"I don't take politics personally, I'm not on any crusade, I'm just in it to have fun. And given this past amazing year in politics, how can I not?"
The Canadian Cartoonists Club - Theo Moudakis's Portfolio
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