South African cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro, known as Zapiro, has won the Principle Prince Claus Award worth about R800 000 (100 000 euro) in Amsterdam.

Zapiro recieved the Dutch Award because of his role in "stimulating social and cultural development", for the quality of his work, and for his "timely and astute commentary on the region's social and political conditions at a point when critical analysis is so desperately needed".

Since 1997 the annual Prince Claus Awards are given to artists, thinkers and cultural organisations mainly in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. Through the years the Prince Claus Fund has chosen a number of themes that shape its contribution to the relation between culture and development. The award also reflects the Prince Claus Fund for culture and development's new focus on humour and satire.

Zapiro's work appears daily in a number of leading South African newspapers and publications including the Mail & Guardian and since October the Cape Times. He started as a cartoonist working with anti-apartheid groups and publishing cartoons during the 1980s. His satire highlights social issues and challenges dogma.

The fund noted that Zapiro also teaches young cartoonists in South Africa, thus creating "a new generation who are motivated to continue the satirist tradition".

(Source: The Cape Times / 6 December 2005)

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