Finalist: Ivan Ehlers, freelancer
For an impressive collection addressing contemporary issues, including economics, climate and immigration, that shows extraordinary range, deft artistry and powerful commentary from an emerging visual journalist.
Nominated Work
September 7, 2025
Nominated Work
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"Billionaire Merit Badges" (February 24, 2025; The New Yorker)
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“New Military Decorations Under Pete Hegseth” (April 28, 2025; The New Yorker)
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Daily Cartoon (April 17th, 2025; The New Yorker)
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Sunday Taquitos #5: "Out of Business" (December 7, 2025; L.A. Taco)
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Sunday Taquitos #6: "Your papers, please" (December 14, 2025; L.A. Taco)
Biography
Ivan Ehlers is an Ecuadorian-American cartoonist and writer with work regularly appearing in The New Yorker, the Los Angeles Times, L.A. Taco, The Boston Globe and many other publications. He creates political cartoons as a reminder of where we’ve been, a comment on where we’re at, and a warning of where we’re going.
Winners
Prize Winner in Illustrated Reporting and Commentary in 2026:
Anand RK and Suparna Sharma, contributors, and Natalie Obiko Pearson of Bloomberg
For “trAPPed,” a riveting account of a neurologist in India held under “digital arrest” by her phone, reporting that uses visuals and words to cast light on the growing global challenges of surveillance and digital scams.
Illustrated Reporting and Commentary
Finalists
Nominated as finalists in Illustrated Reporting and Commentary in 2026:
Adolfo Arranz, Poppy McPherson, Devjyot Ghoshal and Han Huang of Reuters
For “Scammed into Scamming,” an insightful and beautifully rendered visual narrative depicting a multibillion-dollar digital scamming industry staffed with victims of global human trafficking.
Peter Kuper, freelancer
For a portfolio of vibrant and wordless political cartoons on the climate crisis, politics and emerging technology rendered with a fresh perspective and a unique approach to visual storytelling.
The Jury
The Jury
Mariel Garza(Chair)
Co-Founder, CEO and Executive Editor, Golden State, Los Angeles
Susie Cagle
Enterprise Editor, The San Francisco Standard
Alberto Cairo
Knight Chair in Infographics and Data Visualization, University of Miami
Jess Ruliffson
Freelance Graphic Journalist, Boston
Ann Telnaes*
Editorial Cartoonist, Bellingham, Wash.
Winners in Illustrated Reporting and Commentary
Ann Telnaes of The Washington Post
For delivering piercing commentary on powerful people and institutions with deftness, creativity – and a fearlessness that led to her departure from the news organization after 17 years.
Medar de la Cruz, contributor, The New Yorker
For his visually-driven story set inside Rikers Island jail using bold black-and-white images that humanize the prisoners and staff through their hunger for books.
Mona Chalabi, contributor, The New York Times
For striking illustrations that combine statistical reporting with keen analysis to help readers understand the immense wealth and economic power of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
Fahmida Azim, Anthony Del Col, Josh Adams and Walt Hickey of Insider, New York, N.Y.
For using graphic reportage and the comics medium to tell a powerful yet intimate story of the Chinese oppression of the Uyghurs, making the issue accessible to a wider public.
2026 Prize Winners
Saher Alghorra, contributor, The New York Times
For his haunting, sensitive series showing the devastation and starvation in Gaza resulting from the war with Israel.
Jahi Chikwendiu of The Washington Post
For a heart-wrenching and achingly beautiful photo essay on a young family welcoming the birth of their first child as the father is slowly dying from cancer.
Dake Kang, Garance Burke, Byron Tau, Aniruddha Ghosal and Yael Grauer, contributor, of Associated Press
For an astonishing global investigation into state-of-the-art tools of mass surveillance, created in Silicon Valley, advanced in China and spreading worldwide before returning to America for secret new uses by the U.S. Border Patrol.
M. Gessen of The New York Times
For an illuminating collection of reported essays on rising authoritarian regimes that draw on history and personal experience to probe timely themes of oppression, belonging and exile.