Making fun of TPP: National Cartoon Competition Launched

The 16th round of the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations will be held in Auckland from 3-12 December, presumably at Sky City as that was the venue of the December 2010 round.
A Trans-Pacific Partnership Cartoon Competition has been launched to encourage the country’s satirists and graphic artists to engage creatively with the many issues.
“The TPP is a cartoonist’s dream: secret negotiations, big Phrma vs. PHARMAC, tobacco wars, te Tiriti vs. corporate treaties, US-China power struggles, Fonterra = NZ Inc., more backroom deal-making at Sky City, criminalised librarians, and internet users…,” according to Jane Kelsey, who has organised the competition.
The co-sponsors are Scoop Independent News (publishers of Scoop.co.nz), the Society of Authors, the Bruce Jesson Foundation and BizDojo, who will also host an exhibition of the cartoons in Auckland during the negotiation.
The competition offers three prizes of $500.
1. A Best Cartoon award will be judged by prominent journalist Finlay Macdonald.
2. The People’s Choice award will be voted for online using Facebook; and
3. The Biz Dojo Co.Space is sponsoring a special student’s award, which will give the winner a scholarship to use their facilities.
Overseas artists are welcome to contribute, but will not be eligible for the prizes.
All the entries will be exhibited online at the newly launched It’s Our Future (http://www.itsourfuture.org.nz) website, and in the exhibition space at BizDojo in Karangahape Rd, Auckland from 1 to 7 December.
Artists will be asked to release their cartoons for use under Creative Commons license and once entered may be used on Scoop.co.nz as part of its coverage of the TPPA negotiations (see also:  http://community.scoop.co.nz/category/tppa/ )
Artists entering the competition can elect whether to allow their cartoons to be auctioned on-line. Proceeds from this will support the competition and It’s Our Future campaign.
Entries should be sent via It’s Our Future website, which also hosts information and links on the TPPA and its implications for New Zealand.
Media Contacts: Professor Jane Kelsey 021 765 055 or Alastair Thompson from Scoop on 021 707 044

2 thoughts on “Making fun of TPP: National Cartoon Competition Launched

  1. Good try Milt. It would be an appalling idtcinment on the National Party if Hagar had been able to discover they were NOT employing the very best, most competent consultants available. No doubt the ALP would have defeated John Howard one election earlier if they had better managed their leader of the day. Do you remember him? The bloke who lost the election with one momentary outburst in Tasmania, I think it was. Can\’t even remember the fool\’s name.

    1. Not just investigative joraunlism is in crisis that applies to all joraunlism. For example, the New Zealand Herald lost half its newsroom in one ten year period. And that was before the Global Financial Crisis. There are numerous other examples, but what sticks in my mind was a 2010 sitting in the public gallery at Parliament where Speaker Lockwood Smith accused the government of a reckless misuse of official data. Not one media outlet reported the quote, instead carrying colour pieces on a visit to the House by beauty pageant contestants the same day. Dr. Smith may now be one of the few Speakers worldwide to be kicked out by his own government, kicked upstairs to be our representative in London.Misuse of official data remains a concern given the many mistakes highlighted in education reviews of Christchurch (and, no doubt, elsewhere), but is limited not just to data, but other facts as well Dotcom anyone?Is there any real investigative joraunlism in New Zealand anymore? Is there a single media organisation that employs anyone under that title?

Comments are closed.