Keyvan Varesi wins World Press Freedom Cartoon Competition

Keyvan Varesi from Iran is the proud winner of the World Press Freedom Cartoon Competition, organized by Cartoon Movement and Cartooning for Peace. He was rewarded with a certificate by the Netherlands Embassy in Iran on 11 November. 

Keyvan Varesi with Ambassador
Keyvan Varesi and the Ambassador in Iran

The Ambassador and Keyvan talked about his cartoon: 'Rock, Paper, Scissors'. Keyvan explained that he replaced the stone with social media, being the most powerful of the three. The scissors represent censorship. They also came to the conclusion that cartoons have a different meaning for everyone since they are always open for interpretation. The Ambassador requested Keyvan to keep up 'the Power of the Pen': "This is now more important than ever."

Keyvan Varesi - Iran
Image: ©Keyvan Varesi
'Rock, Paper, Scissors': winning cartoon by Keyvan Varesi

His cartoon and many more can be seen at an exhibition in the Sound and Vision Museum starting December 8th in The Hague. If you are in The Hague, make sure to check it out! Otherwise, just register for WPFC and visit the cartoon exhibition digitally. And check out the cartooning wall at the Cartoon Movement website where cartoonists from all over the world can create live cartoons about topics and sessions that are addressed during WPFC. For more information, check out the Cartoon Movement website. And last but not least: congratulations Keyvan!

About the competition
In honor of WPFC 2020, a special cartoon competition was launched at the beginning of this year. Cartoonists from all over the world could submit cartoons about the main themes of the conference: press freedom and 'Journalism without Fear or Favour'. With overwhelming results: over 800 cartoons were submitted. Curious about the other cartoons? Read more and check out the top 10 cartoons of this competition!