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Sacramento Bee Editorial Cartoonist Jack Ohman Wins Pulitzer Prize

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — If you read The Sacramento Bee, there's a good chance you've seen the editorial cartoons by Jack Ohman.

In one breath, the editorial cartoonist can make light of it.

"And they say, oh, he's the Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist or author and it's like, oooooh, ya know," he said.

In the next sentence, it's clear he understands the gravity and importance of winning the Pulitzer Prize.

"It's a 100-year-old award and it's very prestigious and it's a great honor to have it," he said.

He was a syndicated editorial cartoonist at the age of 20. His political views lean to the left, and his talent is at the top of his profession.

"I've always said that political cartooning isn't a drawing job, it's a writing job," he said. "So what I'm trying to do is come up with this distilled phrase that is the caption and the easy part for me is getting the drawing done."

He was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize once before in his career, but he was passed over. Ohman admits he started to wonder if he would ever be a finalist again. Now that he's won, what's next?

"When you're 55, you don't really think about what's next, it's like I've got a clean colonoscopy, I'm happy, ya know," he said. "What's next? There are freelance things I'd like to pursue, I'd like to do more writing for the paper and maybe write some books."

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