March 11, 2004

For Immediate Release

Contact: John Tuller

Director, Public Relations

914-694-5354

THE JOURNAL NEWS Cartoonist First to Win Award

White Plains, New York – Journal News editorial cartoonist Matt Davies has been named the first winner of the Herblock Prize, awarded in the memory of legendary cartoonist and three-time Pulitzer Prize winner Herbert Block.

Davies, 37, won the award from a field of 64 prominent artists and was chosen by a panel of judges that included Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Trudeau and New Yorker magazine editor David Remnick.

"He was a clear unanimous first choice of the judges," said Frank Swoboda, president of the Herb Block Foundation. "You look at his cartoons, you look at the message. He is taking a look at some preposterous situations and blowing holes in people's preponderance. He is very much in the tradition of Herb Block."

Davies will receive the award tonight in a ceremony at the Library of Congress.

"It means a tremendous amount," said Davies, a full-time staffer at The Journal News since 1993. "I think this is a really important time to be in editorial cartooning and editorial commentating. We have a very politically divided nation right now, and, obviously, I comment on that."

"I get a lot of flak from readers who don't understand that what I do is make commentary, not just make funny pictures," he said.

Davies has been syndicated since 1994 and is distributed by Tribune Media Services. His cartoons make biting and unflinching statements about government and its policies, corporate America and society in general, from police brutality to racism.

"I felt for a long time he's one of the best out there, and it's great to see him get the recognition," said Henry Freeman, editor and vice president of news at The Journal News. "I think one of the greatest things about Matt is not only is he clearly a great editorial cartoonist, but he's a great individual as well."

Davies was the 2001 recipient of the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, and has won the Deadline Club Award of the New York chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists four times. Davies is also a five-time, first-place winner of the New York Associated Press Editorial Cartooning Competition.

"What impresses me is how he has found within his drawing vocabulary a very unique and very aggressive drawing style," said Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Tom Toles of the Washington Post. "I mean aggressive both in terms of content, but particularly in terms of visuals. It pushes his style and the images to be instantly identifiable as his. They're more engaging and funny just to look at."

The London-born Davies said he was particularly flattered to be given an award in honor of Block, considered the most influential and significant political cartoonist of the past century.

Known to readers by his trademark "Herblock" signature, Block spent 72 years on the job, starting in 1929 at the Chicago Daily News and retiring from The Washington Post with three Pulitzers and a share of a fourth. He satirized 13 presidents and is credited with coining the phrase "McCarthyism." He died in 2001 just shy of his 92nd birthday.

"He always told a story about how he kicked the boy who kicked the dog, and he said that's essentially what cartoonists do," said Swoboda of the Herb Block Foundation. "They take down the important people two pegs, and that's just exactly what Matt does."

The Herblock Prize winner receives a $10,000 award and a silver trophy. Davies will be a judge in next year's competition.

The Gannett Co. owns the Journal News, Gannett Co., Inc. is a leading international news and information company that publishes 101 daily newspapers in the USA, including USA TODAY, the nation's largest-selling daily newspaper. The company also owns more than 500 non-daily publications in the USA and USA WEEKEND, a weekly newspaper magazine. Gannett subsidiary Newsquest is the United Kingdom’s second largest regional newspaper company. Newsquest publishes more than 300 titles, including 17 daily newspapers, and a network of prize-winning Web sites. Gannett also operates 22 television stations in the United States and is an Internet leader with sites sponsored by most of its TV stations and newspapers including USATODAY.com, one of the most popular news sites on the Web. The Journal News serves Westchester, Rockland and Putnam, N.Y., with a daily circulation of 144,000; Sunday circulation 171,000

More information about The Journal News can be found on its Web site at www.thejournalnews.com.

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