Ann Telnaes wins Pulitzer Prize after resigning from Washington Post over rejected Trump cartoon

Ann Telnaes wins Pulitzer for editorial cartooning after resigning from Washington Post over Trump cartoon.

Ann Telnaes, who resigned from The Washington Post earlier this year following the rejection of one of her political cartoons, has been awarded the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning.

The cartoon in question depicted tech and media executives attempting to gain favor with former President Donald Trump, who had been re-elected president.

The Pulitzer board cited Telnaes for “delivering piercing commentary on powerful people and institutions with deftness, creativity – and a fearlessness that led to her departure from the news organization after 17 years.” Her work has continued to appear via her independent platform on Substack.

Amazing. Ann Telnaes just won a Pulitzer Prize for her work at The Washington Post --- which she resigned from after they refused to run this cartoon. pic.twitter.com/rVFEDZPnzg

— nxthompson (@nxthompson) May 5, 2025

In a statement at the time of her resignation, Telnaes said the cartoon was pulled by the Post for its criticism of billionaire executives “doing their best to curry favor” with then President-elect Trump.

The Washington Post also won a Pulitzer in the Breaking News category for its coverage of the 2024 assassination attempt on Trump, with Doug Mills of The New York Times recognized for his dramatic photographs capturing the incident.

Other major Pulitzer winners included The New Yorker, which earned three awards, including a Commentary prize for Mosab Abu Toha’s essays on Gaza, and The Wall Street Journal, honored for its reporting on Elon Musk, his political shift, and private dealings.

In the Drama category, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins won for Purpose, a play exploring generational legacy in a Black family tied to the Civil Rights Movement.

A special citation was also awarded posthumously to Chuck Stone, a pioneering journalist and co-founder of the National Association of Black Journalists, for his groundbreaking civil rights reporting.