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Art prize for Ham & High cartoonist

Ham & High cartoonist Ken Pyne has scooped a coveted art prize at the 12th annual Cartoon Art Trust Awards.

He was named Caricaturist of the Year, and received his award from Lord Baker, the former Tory MP Kenneth Baker, at a gala dinner at the Mall Gallery.

Ken said of his award: “It’s not an area of cartooning I am that well known for – or so I thought. So I was pleased to win it.”

  • Ken’s latest Ham & High cartoon
  • Ken, who lives in Hampstead, had his first cartoon published in the satirical magazine Punch in 1967.

    Since then, as well as appearing in Archant London’s Ham & High, his work has featured in The Times, the Daily Telegraph, the Daily Mirror, Spectator, consumer magazine Which? and German magazine Stern, among others.

    He is also a regular contributor of cartoons to Private Eye.

    Ken has to draw up to 30 cartoons a week, but he says coming up with 30 jokes is not as difficult as it sounds.

    He said: “If I’m asked to do a joke, I usually get the joke out of the first few lines of the story. I put a box around the line and think of the joke, then draw the cartoon around it.

    “You’re always working to a deadline – usually within an hour. Sometimes less when it’s the Ham & High!”