Justin Berton
San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer
April 13, 2010
SAN FRANCISCO — Mark Fiore, whose animated political cartoons appear on SFGate.com, the Web site of The Chronicle, won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning Monday.It is the first time since the category of editorial cartooning was created in 1922 that the Pulitzer has gone to an artist whose work does not appear in print. The Pulitzer jury said Fiore’s “biting wit, extensive research and ability to distill complex issues set a high standard for an emerging form of commentary” – online video cartooning.Fiore, 40, reached at his home in Fairfax, said he had been caught off guard by news of the award, which is given by the Columbia University School of Journalism.
“This is my ideas morning and I’ve had my head stuffed in my notebook all morning long,” Fiore said. “I’ve been specifically avoiding all talk about the Pulitzer for the past week to avoiding getting prize fever.”
Fiore was one of the first print editorial cartoonists to make the transition to the online medium when he began doing work for SFGate.com in 2001. Like traditional editorial cartoons, his work pokes fun at politicians and societal hypocrisy, but Fiore delivers his messages in animated videos that last between 45 seconds and two minutes.
“No one had ever seen what he was doing,” said Vlae Kershner, news director of SFGate.com. “Nine years later, there’s still no one who does what he does.”
Fiore’s winning entry included “Science-gate,” which adopts the voice-over tone of a mudslinging political ad to lampoon skeptics of global warming.
“Obama Interruptus” portrays the president as a focused orator despite the distracting realities of the world around him. “Credit Card Reform in Action” spoofs new credit-card regulations that are as confusing and loophole-laden as any credit card company’s signup brochure.
“What I really try to do is make it accessible, avoid the wonky and have something to say,” Fiore said. “I’d rather get people thinking a little bit (first), then laughing. But ideally, do both.”
Fiore grew up in California, where as an eighth-grader he aimed his illustrated commentaries at teachers and school administrators, sometimes landing him in trouble.
“I was the kid that was always drawing,” he said. “I learned to focus my talents into a more positive direction.”
He majored in political science at Colorado College. In the biography he submitted to the Pulitzer jury, Fiore wrote that his 1991 graduation ceremony was “a perfect send-off for a cartoonist” because he received his diploma “as commencement speaker Dick Cheney smiled approvingly.”
Fiore worked at the San Jose Mercury News for nine months as a staff cartoonist before he started freelancing editorial cartoons to The Chronicle around 2000. SFGate.com was his first online venue. His work is now syndicated and also appears on Slate.com, MotherJones.com and CBSNews.com, among others.
“The Gate has been very supportive and took a chance on me early on,” Fiore said. “They’ve stuck with it, and I’m glad I won this for the Gate.”
Fiore said he would probably spend the $10,000 that accompanies the Pulitzer Prize on a remodel of the bathroom of the Fairfax home that he and his wife, Chelsea Donovan, purchased in December. Fiore moved to Marin after living in San Francisco for 15 years.
He’ll probably also have a nice dinner with friends, but he knows that deadlines loom: Fiore’s next piece to SFGate.com is due April 21.
“What do you do when you win a Pulitzer?” Fiore asked. “Do you work hard or do a big blowout and take the week off?”
Others with ties to the Bay Area were also honored with Pulitzers on Monday.
San Francisco writer T.J. Stiles won in the biography or autobiography category for his book “The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt.” The Pulitzer jury lauded it as “a penetrating portrait of a complex, self-made titan who revolutionized transportation, amassed vast wealth and shaped the economic world in ways still felt today.”
Rae Armantrout, who graduated from UC Berkeley in 1970 and received a master’s from San Francisco State in creative writing in 1975, won in the poetry category. The jury wrote that Armantrout’s book “Versed” was “striking for its wit and linguistic inventiveness, offering poems that are often little thought-bombs detonating in the mind long after the first reading.”
Cartoon archive: To see samples of Mark Fiore’s work, go to http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/fiore/.