LEADING Dutch political cartoonist and illustrator, Peter van Straaten, has just been awarded The Ink Spot Prize for a cartoon printed in March, 2010 in Vrij Nederland.
Entitled “Rape Cross”, his cartoon was said by the panel of judges to be:
Striking, painfully funny and bitter.
Peter van Straaten
The Ink Spot Prize is a Dutch competition organised by the Foundation for Press Print, and is awarded annually at the exhibition Politics of Print. The exhibition starts every year in the Press Centre in The Hague and then travels through the Netherlands.
Van Straaten, 76, completed a course at the School of Applied Arts in Amsterdam. He began his career in 1958 with Het Parool, initially as a news artist. Later he began creating political cartoons.
Van Straaten won his first Ink Spot competition in 1994, and was again awarded the prize in 1997 and 2003.
You can see other contenders for the prestigious 2010 Ink Spot award here.
Hat tip: Holland
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
January 12th, 2011 at 12:18 pm
Gets my vote. Though to be fair, I neither saw the competition, nor had a vote.
January 12th, 2011 at 12:48 pm
That is one hell of a cartoon. They say a picture is worth a thousand words and I suppose a cartoon is a picture. That cartoon just sums up so much and it is powerful: thousands of boys being shafted by paedophile priests while being distracted by prayer and ritual. As the judges, and congratulations to them for choosing it, say it is bitter, painful and strikingly funny.
I suppose we will now get the, “This wouldn’t be printed if the subject was muslim” and “Disgustingly disrespectful of christianity.” Not nearly as disrespectful as the actual paedophilia and the papal cover up. The disgust applies to the act. The bitter and painful revelation and exposure of the act is cleansing.
January 12th, 2011 at 3:10 pm
HAve to ask, How’s Bill Donohue taking it?
January 12th, 2011 at 6:36 pm
@Uzza
Since Donohue goes apoplectic at the mildest criticism of the RCC or even stuff that he only imagines is criticism of the RCC, we can hope that if he gets wind of this he will spontanously combust.
January 12th, 2011 at 6:41 pm
I’m sure Bill takes it on a regular basis as depicted, another closeted frustrated old white man.
January 12th, 2011 at 7:03 pm
Nice and bold, I grant you that. Although a sort of a soft target for the current social standards. I wonder when someone will have the guts to tease the followers of Mo with similar depictions. Either this, or we will have to concede that the “Jihad-men” have acquired some sort of special power to silence all critics and satirists.
January 13th, 2011 at 2:54 am
Alex R said:
“I wonder when someone will have the guts to tease the followers of Mo with similar depictions.”
I definitely agree. If muslim fundies want to riot because of a political cartoon, you bring out the fire hoses first, then you open up on them with automatic weapons, and those who survive spend at least twenty years in prison.
Muslims like to say that extremists are not what their religion is about. Okay, let’s do them a favor and let the cops and the national guard put their “dark side” to rest permanently. In the US, any violence committed in the name of religion is an enhanced “hate crime”. Let’s let the system work. In the mean time, Fuck Allah, and Fuck Muhammed. To be fair, Fuck Jehovah. Wait!!! Fuck Jesus, too.
NeoWolfe
January 13th, 2011 at 8:10 am
I am confused – is this the same country that is prosecuting Herr Wilders for stating that islam uses violence to shut up dissenters?
OK, so he also quoted the Koran and uncovered a few other unhappy truths.
Now if the RCC were to trash a few embassies?
January 22nd, 2011 at 3:16 pm
Come on Peter van Straaten and all you other artists, who will be first to have a go at good old Moham? Lots of juicy material there to be had!