Steve Kelley of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is a syndicated

editorial cartoonist An editorial cartoonist, also known as a political cartoonist, is an artist who draws editorial cartoons that contain some level of political or social commentary. Their cartoons are used to convey and question an aspect of daily news or curren ...

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

creator, comedian, and writer. He has previously served as staff political cartoonist for The San Diego Union / The San Diego Union-Tribune and The New Orleans Times-Picayune. He began work at the Post-Gazette in November 2018. Kelley is co-creator and writer of the award-winning syndicated comic strip '' Dustin'' which King Features Syndicate distributes to more than 370 newspaper clients and websites. Born in Richmond,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, Kelley graduated from the Collegiate School, and was an honors graduate of

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

in 1981, where he drew cartoons for both the '' Daily Dartmouth'' and ''

The Dartmouth Review ''The Dartmouth Review'' is a conservative newspaper at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Founded in 1980 by a number of staffers from the College's daily newspaper, ''The Dartmouth,'' the paper is most famous for having ...

''.

Career

Kelley began his journalism career in 1981 at the ''

San Diego Union Tribune ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' is a metropolitan daily newspaper published in San Diego, California, that has run since 1868. Its name derives from a 1992 merger between the two major daily newspapers at the time, ''The San Diego Union'' and ...

''. After two decades, he moved to the ''

New Orleans Times-Picayune ''The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate'' is an American newspaper published in New Orleans, Louisiana, since January 25, 1837. The current publication is the result of the 2019 acquisition of ''The Times-Picayune'' (itself a result of th ...

'' in 2002 following an incident at the ''Union Tribune'' involving a cartoon he had submitted to his editors, depicting two teenagers wearing baggy low-cut pants that did not completely cover their buttocks. Kelley and former''

Florida Today ''Florida Today'' is the major daily newspaper serving Brevard County, Florida. Al Neuharth of the Gannett corporation started the paper in 1966, and some of the things he did with this newspaper presaged what he would later do at USA Today. ...

'' editorial cartoonist Jeff Parker, who also worked on ''

Mother Goose and Grimm ] A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of gesta ...

'' and '' Blondie (comic strip), Blondie'' in the past, created and produce the comic strip '' Dustin'', which debuted in early 2010. The strip won the National Cartoonists Society Reuben Award for Best Newspaper Comic Strip in 2010 and 2017. On June 12, 2012, it was reported that Kelley's position at ''The Times-Picayune'' would be terminated as part of a large-scale staff reduction at the paper that included terminations for approximately half of the newsroom staff. Kelley said he expected to continue with ''Dustin'' while looking for a new newspaper position. Kelley was hired by the ''

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', also known simply as the PG, is the largest newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Descended from the ''Pittsburgh Gazette'', established in 1786 as the first newspaper published west of the All ...

'' in 2018 to replace cartoonist Rob Rogers, who had been fired after conflicts with the paper's ownership, a decision some regarded as retaliation for Rogers' criticisms of U.S. President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

. Early in his career, Kelley began writing and performing comedy at the Improv and The Comedy Store in San Diego a pursuit that led to seven appearances on The Tonight Show, and work as the opening act in major venues for numerous performers including The Gatlin Brothers, Lou Rawls, Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire, and Bernadette Peters. Kelley performed in showrooms at The Desert Inn and The Riviera in Las Vegas, Harrah's in Reno, Nevada, Trump Plaza in Atlantic City and Carnegie Hall in New York City.

Awards

Kelley won the 2021 National Headliner Award for a portfolio of cartoons on the Coronavirus pandemic. He was a finalist for The

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

in the

editorial cartooning An editorial cartoonist, also known as a political cartoonist, is an artist who draws editorial cartoons that contain some level of political or social commentary. Their cartoons are used to convey and question an aspect of daily news or curren ...

category in 1999. His cartoons have also won the 2001 National Headliner Award, the Best of The West competition, the Los Angeles Press Club award, and six first place

California Newspaper Publishers Association California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

awards. He won the 2007

National Journalism Awards The Scripps Howard Awards, formerly the National Journalism Awards are $10,000 awards in American journalism given by the Scripps Howard Foundation. As of 2022, the categories are: * Excellence in Coverage of Breaking News * Excellence in Broad ...

for Editorial Cartooning. He served as a 2008 Montgomery Fellow at

and was editor of Pelican Publishing's 2013 edition of Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year.

References

External links

Steve Kelley cartoons archive on editorialcartoons.com

Steve Kelley page on New Orleans Times-Picayune NOLA.com

Interview
at Cagle.com (video) {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelley, Steve Dartmouth College alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American editorial cartoonists Place of birth missing (living people)