Matson Wins Cartooning Award

CQ Roll Call cartoonist Robert “RJ” Matson has won the National Press Foundation’s Clifford K. and James T. Berryman Award for Editorial Cartoons.

Matson will be honored at the National Press Foundation’s annual journalism awards dinner on Feb. 13, 2020. Learn more about the dinner and awards here.

The NPF judges said: “Matson’s cartoons combine visual clarity and instant impact. His drawing is fresh, clean and beautifully composed. Matson’s dry satire helps break down complicated issues and zeroes in on his point.”

Matson is the editorial cartoonist at CQ Roll Call and his cartoons are also syndicated by Cagle Cartoons. He previously worked at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and The New York Observer. Matson has created cover art for 19 CDs by the Capitol Steps comedy troupe and illustrated several books.

The judges also awarded an honorable mention to Rob Rodgers, the now-freelance cartoonist who was fired by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette over editorial differences. Rodgers was the 2015 winner of the Berryman award.

In 1989 Florence Berryman, former art critic for The Washington Star, endowed an annual award in memory of her late father and brother, both Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonists. The Berryman award is open to U.S.-based editorial cartoonists for work that exhibits power to influence public opinion, plus good drawing and striking effect. A list of past winners is here.

The National Press Foundation is an independent nonprofit that is run by and for journalists. NPF’s sole mission is to educate journalists about today’s most pressing issues and critical toolbox training.

ABOUT RJ MATSON
RJ Matson is the editorial cartoonist at CQ Roll Call. He's been affiliated with the news organization since 1986, when he became staff illustrator for Roll Call.

 RJ was the editorial cartoonist at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch from 2005 to 2012 and The New York Observer from 1989 to 2010, and was the art director of The Washington Monthly from 1986 to 1988. His cartoons and illustrations have appeared in City Lights, The New Yorker, The Nation, MAD magazine, The Daily News, The Washington Post, Washington City Paper, Capital Style and other publications. RJ has also created the cover art for CDs by the Capitol Steps comedy troupe and has illustrated several books. 

Born in Chicago, Robert John Matson was raised in Brussels, Belgium and Minneapolis, Minnesota. He received a bachelor of arts degree from Columbia University. RJ's editorial cartoons have won awards from the Maryland-DC-Baltimore Press Association and the Missouri Press Association. He drew TIME's Best Cartoon of the Year in 2007. RJ lives in Falmouth, Maine, with his wife, Mari, and their children Sofie, Gus and Milo.