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The Czech Union of Cartoonists
Founded on 3 March 1990, on an initiative of a Czech journalist Ivan Hanousek, the Czech Union of Cartoonists (ČUK) is a common platform to bring together cartoonists and caricaturists from the Czech Republic and even from other countries. It is a member of the international Federation of Cartoonists’ Organisations (FECO).
The Czech Union of Cartoonists is a professional association, its major role being to provide services for its members but also to act in their interests as an overarching body in dealing with authorities, companies and public institutions. The requirements for anyone to become a member are continuous involvement in the genre, active practice in the field and meeting elementary artistic criteria.
The main service provided lies in issuing a fortnightly E-GAG, which is distributed via email and filled with extensive information about events and developments in editorial or other cartoon and caricature both home and abroad. An archive of the issues established by its editor Ivan Hanousek is accessible on the Union’s webpage (see E-GAG).
The Czech Union of Cartoonists has regularly organised many national and international cartoon competitions, whether on its own or in collaboration with some other partners, and it is on more occasions each year that it holds exhibitions of that genre, both collective and individual. Even though it does not operate as an agency, the Union provides services to support all activities related to cartoon and caricature (see Support).
Moreover, the Czech Union of Cartoonists has published many catalogues, the most important of them being the Encyclopedia of the Czech Cartoonists („Encyklopedie českých karikaturistů“ in Czech) with profiles of eighty five authors, 2005, and the Twenty Jubilee Book that was brought out in 2010 to mark the two decades of the Union’s activity and present the works featured in a joint exhibition wherein seventy five members took part. All exhibition catalogues are available to buy on the following webpage (see Humour for sale).
Since 2004 the Czech Union of Cartoonists has awarded a yearly prize called White Monkey Order, its name being an allusion to the emblem of the Union. It is granted for lifelong and creative achievements in cartoon production and promotion and for special merits for the Union. The first author to achieve that decoration was Jiří Winter-Neprakta, followed by Miroslav Barták, Josef Kobra Kučera, City of Písek, Ivan Hanousek, Vladimír Renčín, the Museum of East Bohemia in Hradec Králové, Jiří Slíva, Robert Radosta, Vladimír Jiránek, Fedor Vico and Josef Poláček.
The Czech Union of Cartoonists promotes its activities in the publications of the FECO and throughout information portals in other countries (Poland, Germany, Italy, Turkey, or elsewhere). The Union representatives are often invited to sit on juries for international competitions and its members have achieved numerous awards with their works in such contests (see more in the profiles of individual authors).
