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John Sherffius
SHERFFIUS BIOGRAPHY
I can't say I always knew I wanted to work as an editorial cartoonist. But I've loved art ever since I won a first-grade contest for my crayon portrait of a Thanksgiving turkey. I've been drawn to politics for just about as long: I remember, as 12-year-old, refusing to join my family at the dinner table so I could sit in front of the TV set, watching Richard Nixon's resignation speech.
In college at the University of California-Los Angeles, I picked up a copy of the school newspaper, the Daily Bruin, and spotted a political cartoon on the editorial page. My career goal clicked. I knew that was what I wanted to do.
I drew cartoons for the Daily Bruin until graduating with a BA in psychology in 1984. I then took a series of art jobs -- sketching aircraft carriers for Navy T-shirts, creating architectural renderings, writing out the calligraphy on diplomas for Korean dentists -- while freelancing cartoons and op-ed illustrations for any paper that would print them. I also earned a second BA in graphic arts from California State University, Northridge, in 1986. ﾠ In 1990, I landed a job as a graphic artist and cartoonist at the Orange Coast Daily Pilot.
In 1992, I joined the Ventura County Star in Southern California. I was hired as a graphic artist but managed, over the years, to carve out time from that job for editorial cartoons. By 1995, I was producing six cartoons a week, while continuing to do locator maps and feature illustratiions.
My wife and I moved to Missouri in 1998 when I took the job as editorial cartoonist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. I produced six cartoons a week for the Post-Dispatch, tackling local, national and global issues and drawing much reader response -- both glowing and growling. I was honored with the Scripps Howard National Journalism Award for cartoons drawn in 2001. And I won the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for my coverage of issues affecting the poor in 2003.
I resigned from the Post-Dispatch in December, 2003. It was a tough decision, because I was proud of the forceful work I had done there. But the new editor had a different vision of the role of an editorial cartoonist, and I felt my work was no longer a good fit. I love this profession with a passion, however, and have continued producing five cartoons a week for a handful of clients, including the Kansas City Star, the Ventura County Star, the Illinois Times and the American Prospect's website. Since leaving the Post-Dispatch, I've been honored to win the National Press Foundation's Berryman Award and the Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi Award. Both honored my 2004 cartoons.
I recently moved to Denver with my wife, Stephanie, and our three children, 7-year-old Hannah, our 5-year-old son, Avery, and 1-year-old Kate. None of them, so far, has shown any prize-winning ability to draw turkeys.
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| Major Awards |
| Herblock Prize, 2008
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| Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, 2004
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| Sigma Delta Chi Award, 2004
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| National Press Foundation - Berryman Award, 2004
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| Scripps Howard - National Journalism Award, 2001
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