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Baltimore Sun editorial cartoonist Kevin "KAL" Kallaugher was a finalist for the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning, won by Adam Zyglis of the Buffalo News.
Kallaugher in March had been awarded the 2015 Herblock Prize, a national prize named for the famed Washington Post editorial cartoonist Herb Block. Kallaugher won the award for a collection of work in The Sun and The Economist magazine.
The Pulitzer Committee singled out Kallaugher "for simple, punchy cartoons with a classic feel lampooning the hypocrisy of not just his subjects but also his readers."
Zyglis was cited for using "strong images to connect with readers while conveying layers of meaning in a few words." Dan Perkins, who writes under the name Tom Tomorrow, was also named a finalist for his work for Daily Kos.
Kallaugher did not sound disappointed Monday afternoon.
"It's been a good year for me," he said. "I've gotten several other awards and nominations, and this is a fabulous addition to the collection. I've always said that as an editorial cartoonist, you're getting awarded every day. It's the most amazing, satisfying, exhilarating job you can imagine."
Kallaugher joined the Sun in 1988 and, 4,000-plus cartoons later, left the paper in 2006. He resumed drawing editorial cartoons for the Sun in 2012. Had he won the Pulitzer, he would have followed in the footsteps of Edmund Duffy, whose editorial cartoons for The Sun earned that prize three times: 1931, 1934 and 1940.
Kallaugher has also been cartoonist of the London-based magazine The Economist since 1978. In addition to the national Herblock Prize, he recently received the 2015 Grand Prix for cartoon of the year in Europe from Press Cartoon Europe and, locally, the 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award from Creative Alliance, bestowed last weekend.
"Getting a local, national and international award in the same year, I feel like I won the trifecta," Kallaugher said. "I just turned 60. When my good friend Herb Block was my age, he had 35 years to go before he retired. So I've got a lot more work to do."