Michael Cavna | |
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| Alma mater | University of California, San Diego |
| Genre | Arts, journalist |
Michael Cavna is an American writer, artist and cartoonist. He is creator of the "Comic Riffs" column for The Washington Post .
His column has received more than a dozen national awards from the Society for Features Journalism, in 2013, [1] 2014, [2] 2015, [3] 2016, [4] 2017 [5] and 2021. [6]
He graduated from the University of California, San Diego.
His "Wise Up" cartoon launched the viral #Draw4Atena campaign in 2015 on behalf of jailed Iranian artist Atena Farghadani. [7]
Cavna wrote the Harvey Award-nominated journalism profile for the Eisner Award-nominated book Team Cul de Sac: Cartoonists Draw the Line at Parkinson's. [8] He was the emcee and co-programmer of the first-ever "Graphic Novel Night" Pavilion at the Library of Congress's National Book Festival. [9]
In February 2015, Cavna began a cartoon that was updated monthly to mark the 545-day detention of American-Iranian journalist Jason Rezaian of The Washington Post; [10] the National Press Club used the cartoon to raise awareness about Rezaian's case. [11]
In April 2016, his "Comic Riffs" column was an Eisner Award [12] finalist for journalism.
In April 2017, his "Comic Riffs" columns received a National Headliner Award [13] for lifestyle writing. In May 2017, "Comic Riffs" received a second Eisner Award [14] nomination for journalism. In October 2017, Cavna shared his personal "Peanuts" history in the Eisner Award-winning book [15] Celebrating Snoopy. [16]
In April 2018, Cavna, with narrator/animator Tom Racine, won the Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi Award [17] for his audio/visual storytelling for For Art's Sake. [18]
In April 2019, his "Comic Riffs" column portfolio of arts writing and illustration received a second National Headliner Award. [19]
In June 2020, his "Comic Riffs" received a third Eisner Award [20] nomination for journalism.
In 2021, Cavna’s cultural coverage received a third National Headliner Award. [21]
In 2023, Cavna received the Ink Bottle Award from the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. [22]