Media contact: Priscilla L. Hunter, 312.344.7805, phunter@colum.edu or Micki Leventhal, 312.344.7383, mleventhal@colum.edu
Chicago, March 2003 -- Editorial cartoonists Bruce Plante of the Chattanooga Times Free Press and Chris Britt of The State Journal-Register in Springfield, Illinois are the first and second place winners of the 21st Fischetti Editorial Cartoon Competition sponsored by Columbia College Chicago. The winning cartoons were chosen from more than 200 entries.
Plante's winning entry on DNA testing and the release of death row inmates depicts a news anchorman with a microphone in the forefront and a woman in the background emptying an urn. The caption reads, "Yet another DNA test has proven the innocence of a death row inmate. He's being released as we speak."
Britts's entry won for its imagined scene of the Pope handing over a child to a priest as he says, "Everybody deserves a second chance."
Plante not only won first place in this year's competition, but also received one of the three honorable mentions.
The other two honorable mentions were: Clay Bennett of The Christian Science Monitor and Robert Ariail of The State-Record Company, Inc.
Both first and second place winners of the annual competition will be honored at a reception on Thursday, May 1 from 5-8 p.m., at the Library of Columbia College Chicago, 624 S. Michigan Avenue, 3rd Floor. Suggested donations are priced at $35, $100 and $250 per person and can be purchased by credit card by calling 312.663.1124, Ext. 3.
The reception will include an auction of original editorial cartoons. Among the signed originals to be auctioned are works from John Fischetti, Stuart Carlson of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Jack Higgins, Chicago Sun-Times, Dick Locher of the Chicago Tribune and Doug Marlette of the Tallahassee Democrat.
Proceeds benefit the Fischetti Scholarship Fund for Columbia College Chicago journalism students.
The competition memorializes John Fischetti, Pulitzer Prize winning editorial cartoonist for the New York Herald Tribune, Chicago Daily News, and Chicago Sun-Times.
Columbia College Chicago is the country's premier visual, performing and media arts college.