Nicaraguan political cartoonist Pedro Molina has won the National Cartoonists Society’s Silver Reuben Award in the Editorial category.
The award was announced at the 80th Annual Reuben Awards, held in Columbus, Ohio, on August 7. Molina was selected from three finalists in the category, alongside Ruben Bolling and Michael Ramirez.
The National Cartoonists Society officially lists the honor among its 2025 Divisional Silver Reuben Awards, recognizing work from the previous year.
Molina, who signs his work as PxMolina, is one of Nicaragua’s best-known political cartoonists. For many years his cartoons have appeared in the independent Nicaraguan news outlet Confidencial, where his work has frequently focused on President Daniel Ortega’s government as well as wider political and international issues.
His career took a dramatic turn during Nicaragua’s political crisis in 2018.
Government forces raided and occupied the offices of Confidencial as pressure on independent journalists increased. Molina left Nicaragua with his family on Christmas Day that year and eventually settled in the United States.
He did not stop drawing for Confidencial after leaving the country. Molina continued producing political cartoons from abroad, and his work has since appeared in publications including The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and France’s Courrier International.
The Silver Reuben adds to several international honors Molina has received in recent years.
In 2019, he was one of four recipients of Columbia University’s Maria Moors Cabot Prizes, which recognize journalism contributing to greater understanding across the Americas.
Two years later, Molina received the Gabo Award’s Recognition of Excellence. In announcing the honor, the Gabo Foundation highlighted a career of more than two decades in graphic journalism and political satire.
In 2023, the Human Rights Foundation named Molina one of the recipients of the Václav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent, an award recognizing artists and activists who challenge authoritarian power through creative work.
Molina has also twice been named a finalist for the Herblock Prize, in 2024 and again in 2026. This year’s prize went to American editorial cartoonist Jack Ohman.
The National Cartoonists Society’s divisional awards cover a broad range of professional cartooning, including editorial cartoons, newspaper strips, comic books, graphic novels, illustration and online comics. The winners were announced during the Society’s three-day conference in Columbus, held from August 6 to 8.
Eight years after leaving Nicaragua, Molina continues to work from the United States, producing cartoons for Confidencial and other publications.
Sources
National Cartoonists Society — Winners of the 80th Annual Reuben Awards
https://nationalcartoonists.com/reubenwinners-2026/
National Cartoonists Society — Finalists Announced for 2025 NCS Divisional Awards
https://nationalcartoonists.com/2025-divisional-finalists/
Herb Block Foundation — Pedro Molina
https://www.herbblockfoundation.org/herblock-prize/prize-winners/2026/pedro-molina
Columbia Journalism School — Maria Moors Cabot Prizes 2019
https://journalism.columbia.edu/news/maria-moors-cabot-2019
Human Rights Foundation — 2023 Václav Havel Prize Laureates
https://archive.hrf.org/announcing-the-2023-havel-prize-laureates/
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