Metro’s cartoonist Guy Venables has received heaps of praise as he claimed the coveted crown of Pocket Cartoon Series of the Year.
The talented scribbler ended fellow cartoonist Matt Pritchett ‘s 11-year winning streak and was praised for his sketches by judges at the Professional Cartoonists Awards in London last night.
Guy has been working at Metro for six years and has been praised for his ability to create witty, cutting and on the nose cartoons over the last 12 months.
His Pocket Cartoon series award takes in all his drawings over the last year, with his clever takes on both local and national topics.
His cartoons on the UK elections, the Rotherham riots, the Russia-Ukraine war and the sewage leak scandal have all won him high praise.
The seasoned satirist had his first cartoon published in Punch when he was just 15 (only a few years ago) and works not only for Metro, but has had his work published in Private Eye, The Spectator, The New Yorker.
He is also a writer for comedy on the BBC, Channe 4, ITV and Radio 4.
‘We are all thrilled that Guy has been honoured, knocking the highly acclaimed Matt off his cartoon perch! His sharp wit and sense of humour on a daily basis brings light relief to all the doom and gloom in the world.’
Guy’s approach to cartoons is a mixture of pure pen and ink drawing technique and teaching the methods of taking a news story or situation and drawing the humour from it using diagrams, lists, and visual aids with help from examples from the history of cartooning.
He said his own work is inspired by anything from fine art to the product design on cereal packets and everything in between, along with the Punch cartoonists from the 1920s.
In his acceptance speech last night Guy thanked the team at Metro, and said ‘it’s pretty unique working for the Metro as a cartoonist because, rather than toeing a party line, I can stand right in the middle and fire outwards. And because you’re all so gorgeous.’
Guy’s favourite cartoons of the year
He also thanked heap of people that have all been part of his inspiration throughout his career, including Van Kilmer, Peters and Lee, David Frost, the permafrost, Shakdemus and Pliers….especially Pliers.
Guy said he would be celebrating tonight with a cigar and a glass of fizz (or a roll-up and some cider) before coming back down to earth and putting pen to paper for more fantastic cartoons in the Metro next week.
Metro Newspaper editor, Chris Cowley said: ‘We are all thrilled that Guy has been honoured, knocking the highly acclaimed Matt off his cartoon perch! His sharp wit and sense of humour on a daily basis brings light relief to all the doom and gloom in the world.’
He added: ‘At the ripe old age of 56 I’ m still considered the ‘new guard’ however I’ll keep it short because I’m still suffering from mild concussion due to a ‘political discussion’ in a pub in Portsmouth docks yesterday. So bear with me.
‘Tomorrow, no doubt I will be celebrating drinking champagne and smoking cigars on my veranda.
‘Well not champagne but fizz. And small cigars. Cigarettes really. And well not really fizz but cider. Flat cider from a big plastic bottle. And rollies. Used rollies made from fags from the car park.
‘The cider is awful, and I don’t have a light. And it’s not so much my veranda as a bus stop. Where I;ve been living since she left me…using the cider bottle as a pillow. But it’s still a celebration.
‘Firstly, I’d like to thank the team at the Metro, who’ve always fought my corner when the sackload of complaints come in.
‘Everyone in my local pub who helped me write some of the tricker cartoons and pay some of my trickier bar tabs. In fact, everyone in the village of Chilgrove.
‘All residents of Sussex as a whole. I’d like to the people who voted in the UK, and Ireland and Europe. Asia, the world, the West Sussex County Council. The Style Council, Miss Offshore platform 1978, Lynx Dark Temptation, George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces, Van Kilmer, Peters and Lee, David Frost, the permafrost, Shakdemus and Pliers….especially Pliers.
‘Waterbeds, Bashi Bazouks, my gut bacteria, the atmosphere. The universe, the cosmos, The Eagles, Edinburgh Zoo, the Moon, tardigrades, Lion Bars…’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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