American editorial cartoonist Adam Zyglis has been named the recipient of the 2025 Sigma Delta Chi Award for Editorial Cartooning, one of the most prestigious honors in American journalism.
The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) announced the winners of the 2025 Sigma Delta Chi Awards on July 9, 2026, recognizing outstanding journalism published during 2025. In the Editorial Cartooning category, the award was presented to Adam Zyglis, editorial cartoonist for The Buffalo News.
Zyglis was recognized for his editorial cartoons published throughout the year. The judging panel praised his ability to maintain humor and irony while addressing today’s highly polarized political climate.
The judges stated:
“These are challenging days for editorial cartoonists. It’s easy to get so angry the results are hot instead of illuminating. Zyglis keeps a sense of humor and irony without resorting to cheap shots and that makes him special right now.”
Established in 1939, the Sigma Delta Chi Awards honor excellence in journalism across a wide range of categories, including reporting, investigative journalism, photography, illustration, public service, and editorial cartooning. The awards recognize work published during the previous calendar year.
In the Illustration category, Deborah Jian Lee received the 2025 award for “A Prospect Heights Ghost Story,” published in collaboration with the Economic Hardship Reporting Project and Hyperallergic. The judges described the work as “a strong and relatable story made exponentially more powerful by the intimate pen illustrations.”
A Pulitzer Prize winner, Adam Zyglis is widely recognized as one of the leading editorial cartoonists in the United States. His work has received numerous national and international honors for its sharp commentary on political and social issues.
Presented annually by the Society of Professional Journalists, the Sigma Delta Chi Awards are regarded as one of the most respected journalism award programs in the United States, recognizing professional excellence across a broad range of journalistic disciplines, including editorial cartooning.
Source: The Sigma Delta Chi Awards (SPJ)
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