PCO Cartoon Awards 2024

Welcome to the inaugural Professional Cartoonists’ Organisation Awards We’ve been thinking for a long time about doing our own, less formal, ‘above a pub room’, type of awards: an evening that doesn’t take itself too seriously and where we’d get together with fellow cartoonists and cartoon supporters and have a lark (and let’s face it, […]
Herne Bay Cartoon Festival 2024 Preview

Herne Bay 2024 poster by Rob Murray Royston Robertson writes: The 11th Herne Bay Cartoon Festival, which will see cartoonists from all over the country visit the Kentish seaside town, is upon us, and the theme is “Rocking the Boat!” The main live event will be held at the Beach Creative gallery again – on […]
Great Ideas exhibition

Jeremy Banx writes: So another PCO exhibition is now on show in the café at the Omnibus Theatre on Clapham Common. Hot on the heels of our last exhibition of Xmas panto cartoons for ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’, this time the theme is ‘Ideas’. And what a lot of ideas about ideas there are. No […]
The Great Greenwich Pub Exhibition of 2024!

Cartoon © Martin Rowson Pete Songi writes: A small acorn of an idea that has grown into a bit of a large tree. Poster & cartoon © Pete Songi This event was dreamed up after some light refreshment with myself Mark Winter and Jeremy Banks one cold night in SE10, also spurred on by Martin […]
The Great British Colouring Book

Clive with the colouring book hot off the press Clive Goddard writes: Back in July 2023 cartoons hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons. The immigration minister, Robert Jenrick, had ordered the removal of children’s cartoon murals from the walls of two migrant centres in Kent. The colourful, cuddly Disney characters were apparently sending out […]
Tony Husband – A Tribute in Cartoons

All at PCO were shocked and saddened to hear of the death of Tony Husband, one of the cartoon world’s all time greats. There have already been numerous fine tributes written about Tony – here’s a great memoriam by John Freeman on Down The Tubes comics-related blog. Another excellent testimonial with wonderful photos and video […]
‘Compositor E’ exhibition at Omnibus theatre

Jeremy Banx writes: “Fuck off, you loggerheaded fool-born gudgeon!” Just one of the more acerbic lines from ‘Compositor E’; a new play written by Charles Dupré; set just seven years after Shakespeare’s death, at the Omnibus Theatre, Clapham Common. It certainly had me chuckling during the course of a thought-provoking evening at the theatre. Dupré […]
Bring Back The Birch

Drawing © Andrew Birch. @marshallcartoon writes: Our esteemed membership secretary Andrew Birch has been exiled from Twitter after complaints from Tory Chair Greg Hands. Hands had posted a photo opportunity of himself eating a fish and chip supper. Andrew had replied that he ”hoped his supper didn’t go down well (or words to that effect, […]
Bill Tidy (1933-2023) – A Tribute

Drawing of ‘The Cloggies’ from Bill’s long running Private Eye strip. Rupert Besley writes: It’s funny what sticks in the memory. First kiss, first day at new school, first pint, first dive into a pool… To which I’d add, first sight of a Bill Tidy cartoon. 1965. We’d just moved house and my brother came […]