Fonte Michael Cavna
On May 25, Angelo Lopez will receive the RFK Journalism Award for Cartoons in a ceremony at the Newseum.
“I’m thrilled to receive the award,” Lopez tells The Post’s Comic Riffs, “and a little stunned, too.”
The RFK Journalism Awards, as presented by the
Robert F. Kennedy Human Rightsorganization, “celebrate excellence” in a dozen categories, including investigative reporting, new media and international photography. (To see the full list of 2016 RFK journalism and book award recipients, including Post associate editor David Maraniss,
click here.)
Lopez, who studied illustration at San Jose State, has been a political cartoonist at the Bay Area-based Philippines Today since 2012, while also working at a library. The author-artist’s cartoons last year offered sharp commentary on such issues as religious intolerance, sexual violence, women’s rights and censorship. He especially spotlights the challenges faced by marginalized Filipino Americans and Filipinos overseas.
Comic Riffs caught up with Lopez to talk about his influences, his heroes and the current state of controversial politics in the Philippines:
MICHAEL CAVNA: Congratulations on the award, Angelo. How did you receive the news … and have you yet received the standard call from the Kennedy family to congratulate you?
ANGELO LOPEZ: Robert Kennedy is one of my biggest heroes, and I admire all the social-justice work that the Kennedy family has done for our country. I received the news about a week ago. I got an email at my work, then received a call and found out I won the award. I was happy and also a bit stunned. It was a very surreal moment. When I was hearing about the news, I kept thinking to myself: “This doesn’t seem real.” I had won the Sigma Delta Chi award a few weeks ago, and was still getting over the thrill about that.
I haven’t received a call yet from one of the Kennedy family, but I’m going to meet Ethel and Kerry Kennedy in two weeks. … I’m excited and very nervous to meet [them]. I have a tendency to put my foot in my mouth when I get starstruck, and I’m definitely going to be starstruck when I meet Ethel and Kerry. My wife Lisa will be with me, so I’m hoping she slaps me upside the head before I do something that is too embarrassing.
MC: What were some of the hot-button issues that you think made for striking cartoons in your winning portfolio? Were there political or social matters you felt particularly passionate about last year?
AL: Over the years, I’ve focused a lot on the struggles of overseas Filipino workers and the struggles in this country of domestic workers. I think it’s important to comment on the most marginalized members of the Filipino American community, and to highlight the struggles of Filipinos overseas, and I think the judges detected that. In Mindanao, for instance, there is a lot of violence between the indigenous people and mining companies over the right to extract mineral resources from the land. Pope Francis’s efforts to reform the Catholic Church are having profound effects on Filipino Americans, as they are predominantly Catholic. This will effect Filipino attitudes towards divorces, LGBT individuals and the poor.
MC: Do you think you are continuing to improve and just get better, year to year [after eight years in the industry]?
AL: I think I’m improving. I’m always trying out new techniques whenever I see something I like. I work in a library to pay the bills, so I get exposed to a lot of great art books, graphic novels and comic collections.
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Angelo Lopez per Cartoon Movement
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48th Annual Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards (for 2015 Coverage)
High School Broadcast Winner
“The Jellybean Jar of Life: Nick’s Story,” Becca Kristofferson, Jacob Jaeger, Dylan Goodman, and Seamus Levin, Mexico High School, Missouri
High School Print Winner
“What One Family Can Never Forget,” Anthony Kristensen, North Star, Francis Howell North High School, Missouri
College Journalism Winner
“Land of Broken Promises,” Depth Reporting Class, Meek School of Journalism and New Media, University of Mississippi
Domestic Print Winner
“Beware the Fine Print,” Jessica Silver-Greenberg, Michael Corkery, Robert Gebeloff, and Christine Kay, The New York Times
International Print Winner
“Seafood from Slaves, “ Martha Mendoza, Margie Mason, Robin McDowell, and Esther Htusan, The Associated Press
Domestic Photography Winner
“The Geography of Poverty,” Matt Black, MSNBC
International Photography Winner
“Europe’s Migrant Crisis,” Carolyn Cole, Los Angeles Times
Radio Winner
“Injured Nurses,” Daniel Zwerdling, NPR News
New Media Winner
“Exxon: The Road Not Taken”, Neela Banerjee, John Cushman, Jr., David Hasemyer, and Lisa Song, InsideClimate News
Cartoon Winner
“Editorial Cartoons,” Angelo Lopez, Philippines Today
Domestic Television Winner
“Citizenfour,” Laura Poitras, HBO
International Television Winner
“Escaping Isis,” Edward Watts, Raney Aronson, John Bredar, Andrew Metz, and Evan Williams, FRONTLINE/WGHB
