'Independent' cartoonist wins award

The Independent's cartoonist Dave Brown has won the Political Cartoon of the Year award for a controversial depiction of Ariel Sharon apparently eating a Palestinian baby a day before the Israeli elections.

In the cartoon, published on 27 January, Sharon says "What's wrong? You never seen a politician kissing babies before?" as a loudspeaker from a helicopter gunship chants "Vote Sharon, Vote Sharon" overhead. The cartoon was based on Goya's Saturn Devouring His Children and was penned after a pre-election raid by Israeli missiles on Gaza City. The prize was presented after a vote by the members of the Political Cartoon Society and national newspaper cartoonists. It was presented by the former cabinet minister Clare Short on Tuesday night at the headquarters of The Economist in London.

The Press Complaints Commission found in March that the cartoon did not breach its code after it received dozens of complaints.

Brown, 45, started his career on The Sunday Times in 1989, working for many national publications before joining The Independent in 1996.