Pamarthy Shankar, Telugu daily cartoonist, wins Grand Prix World Press Cartoon Award

Hyderabad: Pamarthy Shankar, a cartoonist working with the prominent Telugu newspaper ‘Sakshi’, has won the Grand Prix World Press Cartoon 2014 Award for sketching Nelson Mandela. Shankar, who has worked as a cartoonist in several Telugu newspapers since 1998, was presented the award at Cascais in Portugal on July 11, 2015, by World Press Cartoon Director Antonio Antunes. [caption id=“attachment_2353280” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Pamarthy Shankar. YouTube screengrab[/caption] A Nelson Mandela caricature drawn by Shankar after the death of the iconic South African anti-apartheid leader in December 2013, fetched him the award for the year 2014, according to the website of the Portugal-based organisation. The award ceremony was supposed to be held earlier this year but got delayed due to elections in Portugal, Shankar told PTI. Shankar’s caricature has been displayed at a World Press Cartoon exhibition at Cascais in Portugal along with the top 50 works by other cartoonists in 2014, according to the organisation’s website. The World Press Cartoon awards are presented in three categories every year, namely general, caricature and political, according to the website. Other cartoonists who won awards in the caricature category are Alfredo from Argentina, who won the second prize for sketching late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez as well as Iranian cartoonist Yaser Khanbarai, who won the third prize for sketching US President Barack Obama, according to the organisation’s website. The Grand Prix World Press Cartoon 2014 Award’s jury comprised of globally renowned cartoonists like Adriana Mosquera Soto, Rainer Ehrt, Ferruccio Giromini, Antonio Antunes and Jaume Capdevila, it said. The World Press Cartoon exhibition showcases the best international cartoons published every year, which includes, works by finalists of each one of the three categories, in addition to prize-winning works as well as works which received honourable mentions. “Visitors to the exhibition can see the original caricature of Nelson Mandela by Indian artist Shankar Pamarthy who won the Grand Prix World Press Cartoon 2014,” the organisation’s website said. PTI