| Signe Wilkinson | |
|---|---|
 Wilkinson, photographed in 2015. | |
| Born | (1950-07-25)July 25, 1950 (age 75) Wichita Falls, Texas, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Area | Cartoonist |
Notable works | Editorial cartoons One Nation, Under Surveillance Abortion Cartoons on Demand |
| Awards | Pulitzer Prize -Editorial Cartooning |
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Signe Wilkinson (born July 25, 1950, inWichita Falls, Texas) is aneditorial cartoonist best known for her work at thePhiladelphia Daily News. Her work is described as having a "unique style and famous irreverence."[1] Wilkinson is the only female editorial cartoonist whose work has been distributed by a major syndicate.[2]
Wilkinson is the first female cartoonist to win thePulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning (1992) and was once named "the Pennsylvania state vegetable substitute" by the former speaker of thePennsylvania House of Representatives. In 2011, Wilkinson received a Visionary Woman Award[3] fromMoore College of Art & Design. She has also won fourOverseas Press Club Awards and twoRobert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards for Cartooning.[4]
In late 2020, Wilkinson retired as the editorial cartoonist forThe Philadelphia Inquirer and thePhiladelphia Daily News.[5][6] She still publishes cartoons in Sunday editions of theInquirer.[7]
Wilkinson was born into aQuaker family inWichita Falls, Texas, on July 25, 1950. She received a Bachelor of Arts in English at theUniversity of Denver. She then attended thePennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts; to support herself, she worked with graphic design at theAcademy of Natural Sciences, and various regional newspapers hired her as a stringer.[8]
After Wilkinson received her BA in English, she began to pursue careers in journalism. She worked as a reporter, stringing for theDaily Post, theKing of Prussia, and theWest ChesterDaily Local News.[9] She also worked for the Quakers and theAcademy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University before working for a housing project inCyprus. This job shortly ended due to a coup d'état in Cyprus, followed by a military invasion fromTurkey.[1] Once Wilkinson returned to reporting, she would draw the people she reported on.
Realizing her interest in both art and politics, Wilkinson attended thePennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts for a year. During her time there, she stringed for various Philadelphia and New York publications. In 1982, she earned a full-time job at theSan Jose Mercury News, where she spent three and a half years working as a cartoonist.[1] In the mid-1980s, Wilkinson worked for thePhiladelphia Daily News as a cartoonist, where she still draws five cartoons a week.[10] In 1992, she became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning.[4] The same year, she released her first collection of cartoons,Abortion Cartoons on Demand.[11] Wilkinson has also created cartoons forWorking Woman,Ms.,Organic Gardening, the Institute for Research on Higher Education and several other publications, such as theFriends Journal and theUniversity Barge Club newspaper.[9]
In 1992, she published her first collection of her work, entitledAbortion Cartoons on Demand.[11] In 2005, she released her second collection of cartoons,One Nation, Under Surveillance: Cartoon Rants on Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Privacy.[12]
She served as president of theAssociation of American Editorial Cartoonists from 1994 to 1995.[9][13]
On November 21, 2007, Wilkinson launched a syndicated daily comic strip withUnited Media entitledFamily Tree.[13] This strip focused on environmental issues.Family Tree concluded on August 27, 2011. ForOrganic Gardening magazine, Wilkinson created a comic strip entitledShrubbery that centered on botanical and political topics.[13]The Washington Post Writers Group syndicated Wilkinson's cartoons.[14]
Wilkinson and her husband live in Pennsylvania with their two birds, five goldfish, and a dog named "Ginger."[9]
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