A funny thing happened on the way to the airport…Wow. I won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Illustrative Reporting and Commentating by Ann Telnaes, May 07, 2025, Open Windows
Thank you so much for all your comments and notes of congratulations!
I feel like I am late to my own party but I’m traveling overseas to to do presentations about Press Freedom and the time zones are really messing with me. Once I head again to the airport for the next leg of my trip, I’ll post some thoughts and photos for paid subscribers. And yes, I was in my lyft heading to the airport when I got the Pulitzer news.
Meanwhile, here’s what my lovely Norwegian hosts had waiting when I checked into my room.
*** and some more great news! Due to you all, my Substack Open Windows has reached 100,000 subscribers!!
@sandyf2000.bsky.social:
It’s outrageous that they are using the Pulitzer awarded to you to try and rope in new subscribers. I love your political cartoons. One of the first things I always looked for when I was a Post subscriber.
@chappatte.bsky.social:
Congrats @anntelnaes.bsky.social on winning the Pulitzer Prize again this year—immensely deserved in a year when you stood for principle and courage. Bravo! The Freedom Cartoonists Foundation @freedomcartoonists.bsky.social is proud to count you in our advisory board www.pulitzer.org/winners/22684
@ironspike.bsky.social:
lmao the absolute fucking stones to run with this version of events.
You forced her resignation from your paper by refusing to print her work critical of the current administration, you contemptable cowards. How dare you attempt to take any credit for Ann’s win.
@madamehardy.bsky.social:
Ann Telnaes resigned in protest of an editorial decision to kill a piece in order to appease Trump, Bezos, Zuckerberg, and others.
You don’t get to claim credit.
@sharpeslass.bsky.social:
You get no credit for this win whatsoever WaPo. None. She won for her moxie, you fired her for the same. I count being forced out the same as being fired. Having been in the same position, there really is no choice in the long run.
@princehalbert.bsky.social:
You guys are pure sleaze for trying to share in credit for the work of a person you forced out for actually doing the job she was supposed to be doing. I’m so glad I cancelled my subscription months ago. You’ll never get it back.
@hyperbolee.bsky.social:
UNphuckingbelievable. Talk about drinking ALL the Koolaid! Not only did they bend the knee to the FELONInChief long ago, now they are behaving exactly as he would: taking credit for something that THEY did not earn. So glad I cancelled my
@washingtonpost.com subscription LONG AGO.
SHAME.
@feyandstrange.bsky.social:
That’s the @anntelnaes.bsky.social you don’t have any more because you censored her, right?
@rob-in-newmexico.bsky.social:
Takes a wee bit of chutzpah for the WaPo to swoop in and take credit here.
@giamonroe.bsky.social:
If you ever needed proof that sub-par white men will easily humiliate and embarrass themselves by taking credit for exceptional work created by a woman, here it is.
@coolmileswalking.bsky.social:
WAPO is actually advertising an awesome Pulitzer Prize winning journalist to sell newspapers, but in fact said journalist already left WAPO for censoring her work?
It’s beyond hypocritical bad taste. It’s a potential lawsuit.
I just got the ad in my inbox. Nope. Will not subscribe. Ever.
S.L. Heiden:
Seeing WaPO prominently bragging about on you was — disturbing. . . but huge congrats on your 2nd Pulitzer and hitting 100k subscribers!
@tedgarrison3.bsky.social:
Go fuck yourselves. SHE won the award. Not you sellout, kiss the ring motherfuckers.
@ragingbitch.bsky.social:
Too bad you stupidly tried to muzzle her and now she no longer works for you. Apparently Democracy Dies at WAPO!
@mortenmorland.bsky.social:
No one more deserving of a Pulitzer than @anntelnaes.bsky.social. Hilarious that @washingtonpost.com is claiming it as one of its own.
@chappatte.bsky.social:
Screening & debate with US cartoonist @anntelnaes.bsky.social on May 13 at 6:15 p.m. in Geneva‘s Grütli movie theater: it’s FULL! There will be a waiting list at the entrance for no-shows. More info on @freedomcartoonists.bsky.social
Freedom Cartoonists’ website freedomcartoonists.com
Why I’m quitting the Washington Post
Democracy can’t function without a free press
Jan 03, 2025
I’ve worked for the Washington Post since 2008 as an editorial cartoonist. I have had editorial feedback and productive conversations—and some differences—about cartoons I have submitted for publication, but in all that time I’ve never had a cartoon killed because of who or what I chose to aim my pen at. Until now.
The cartoon that was killed criticizes the billionaire tech and media chief executives who have been doing their best to curry favor with incoming President-elect Trump. There have been multiple articles recently about these men with lucrative government contracts and an interest in eliminating regulations making their way to Mar-a-lago. The group in the cartoon included Mark Zuckerberg/Facebook & Meta founder and CEO, Sam Altman/AI CEO, Patrick Soon-Shiong/LA Times publisher, the Walt Disney Company/ABC News, and Jeff Bezos/Washington Post owner.
While it isn’t uncommon for editorial page editors to object to visual metaphors within a cartoon if it strikes that editor as unclear or isn’t correctly conveying the message intended by the cartoonist, such editorial criticism was not the case regarding this cartoon. To be clear, there have been instances where sketches have been rejected or revisions requested, but never because of the point of view inherent in the cartoon’s commentary. That’s a game changer…and dangerous for a free press.
(rough of cartoon killed)
Over the years I have watched my overseas colleagues risk their livelihoods and sometimes even their lives to expose injustices and hold their countries’ leaders accountable. As a member of the Advisory board for the Geneva based Freedom Cartoonists Foundation and a former board member of Cartoonists Rights, I believe that editorial cartoonists are vital for civic debate and have an essential role in journalism.
There will be people who say, “Hey, you work for a company and that company has the right to expect employees to adhere to what’s good for the company”. That’s true except we’re talking about news organizations that have public obligations and who are obliged to nurture a free press in a democracy. Owners of such press organizations are responsible for safeguarding that free press— and trying to get in the good graces of an autocrat-in-waiting will only result in undermining that free press.
As an editorial cartoonist, my job is to hold powerful people and institutions accountable. For the first time, my editor prevented me from doing that critical job. So I have decided to leave the Post. I doubt my decision will cause much of a stir and that it will be dismissed because I’m just a cartoonist. But I will not stop holding truth to power through my cartooning, because as they say, “Democracy dies in darkness”.
Thank you for reading this.
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