AAEC - John Locher Memorial Award - Past Winners

Locher Award Links

• 1987 -- Kevin Seirs. Kevin is currently the cartoonist for the Charlotte Observer.
• 1988 -- Paul Tarr at the Milwaukee convention.
• 1989 -- Mike Thompson at the Newport convention. Mike was a student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He is currently the political cartoonist for the Detroit Free Press and is syndicated by Copley News Service. His cartoons appear in more than 400 publications nationwide. Mike has won numerous awards for his work.
• 1990 -- Bill Costello at the Seattle convention. Bill is a University of Maryland graduate. His cartoons can be seen in USA Today.
• 1991-- Steve Breen at the Memphis convention. Steve was graduated from University of California at Riverside in 1992. Steve won the Pulitzer Prize in 1998. He also has won the 1991 Scripps-Howard Foundation-Charles Schultz Award. He is presently the editorial cartoonist for the San Diego Union-Tribune and is the creator of the comic strip, "Grand Avenue."
• 1992 -- Jerry King at the Colorado Springs convention. Jerry finished his final exams as senior at Ohio State University the day before he left for the convention. He is now a commercial artist specializing in greeting cards and full-color Illustrations for magazines. He recently won a 2002 National Cartoonists Society award for magazine gag cartoons.
• 1993 -- Marshall Ramsey of Kennesaw State College, Marietta, Georgia, won at the convention in Austin, Texas and immediately was offered a position as editorial cartoonist at the Conroe Courier in Texas. Marshall is presently at the Jackson Clarion-Ledger and won the 1999 Mississippi Press Association Award.
• 1994 -- John Davidson's winning editorial cartoons appeared in the University Dally student newspaper at Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas. John attended the convention in New Orleans.
• 1995 -- Drew Shenneman was a sophomore at Central Michigan University when he won the award at the Baltimore convention. Drew is presently the cartoonist at the Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger.
• 1996 -- Brian Fairrington at the Phoenix convention. His award-winning cartoons appeared in The State Press, the student newspaper of the Arizona State University. Brian's cartoons appear in the Arizona Republic. He is syndicated by Caglecartoons.com.
• 1997 -- Aaron Taylor's winning cartoons appeared in The Daily Universe at
  Brigham Young University. Aaron attended the Orlando Convention. After
  nearly eight years as a graphic designer, Aaron joined the Daily Herald
  in Provo, Utah in 2005 as the staff editorial cartoonist and designer.
  Creators Syndicate syndicated his comic strip "Ph.D" in 1999 and 2000.
• 1998 -- Patrick O'Connor won in Las Vegas. While a student at Kent State University, Patrick's cartoons appeared in the student newspaper, The Daily Kent Stater. He is currently editorial cartoonist for the Los Angeles Daily News
• 1999-- Brad Minnery's winning entries were drawn for the University of Pittsburgh's student newspaper, The Pitt News. Brad received his award at the Chattanooga convention.
• 2000-- Justin Bilicki's winning entries were drawn for Michigan State University's student newspaper, The State News. Justin received his award at the Minneapolis convention.
• 2001-- Eric Devericks won for this cartoons in the Daily Barometer, the Oregon State University student newspaper at the Toronto convention. Within a year of receiving the award, Eric accepted the editorial cartoon position at the Seattle Times.
• 2002 -- Nate Beeler of the American University, Washington, D.C., won for his cartoons in the campus newspaper, The Eagle. He received his award at the Washington convention. He was also the recipient of the 2002 Charles M. Schultz Award from Scripps Howard Foundation.
• 2003 -- Dan Carino was staff editorial cartoonist for The Daily Aztec, the student newspaper of the San Diego State University, for two years when he won the Locher Award contest Dan also won the SPJ Mark of Excellence and the Gold Circle Award from Columbia College.
• 2004 -- Josh Ferrin was a graduating senior at the University of Utah when he won. He received his degree in Political Science with a minor in Middle Eastern studies. His cartoons were featured in the student newspaper, the Daily Utah Chronicle. He also won the SPJ Mark of Excellence award.
• 2005 -- Terrence Nowicki, Jr. drew his first editorial cartoons in the fall of 2004 for the Western Front, student newspaper of Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington. He submitted these cartoons in March of 2005 and won the contest. He also won the SPJ Mark of Excellence award in 2005.
• 2006 -- William C. Warren joined the staff of the Old Gold and Black, the weekly newspaper of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina during his first week of his freshman year and produced two cartoons a week for them. William was a sophomore when he won the contest, majoring in political science with a double-minor in studio art and journalism.
  
• 2007 -- Kory Merritt is a senior at the State University of New York College at Brockport, from which he will soon be graduating with an art major and an environmental science minor. His cartoons have appeared in SUNY Brockport's student newspaper, The Stylus, since 2005. During summers he works as a counselor at Lockport YMCA Camp Kenan. He has been fascinated with the cartooning profession since early childhood, and considers the John Locher Memorial Award to be the greatest honor he has ever received.
  2007 Runners-up:
  • Sam Ayres, Yale University
  • Nathan Rohde, University of Wisconsin -- Madison
• 2008 -- Sam Ayres is a junior English and political science major at Yale University, where he has been the staff editorial cartoonist for the Yale Daily News since 2005. Originally from Colorado, Sam began cartooning in 2002 for his high school newspaper in Englewood. He became intrigued with the power of political cartoons after learning about Thomas Nast's pioneering career. When not cartooning or studying, Sam enjoys flyfishing and golf.
  
  The subject matter of Ayres' four winning cartoons was timely and varied. The subjects ranged from commentary on Senator John McCain's presidential campaign to "free" speech in Iran.
  
  Sam says he "is honored and excited to have won the John Locher Memorial Award this year and to be part of the special tradition the award represents, and is extremely grateful to Mr. and Mrs. Locher for their generous support of college cartoonists." Sam's cartoons can be viewed online at www.samayres.com or www.yaledailynews.com.
  2008 runners-up in the contest are:
  • First Runner-up: Christopher Sharron, Kent State University
  • Second Runner-up: Bill Richards, University of Georgia

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