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Cathy Wilcox

Cartoonist, SMH

Biographical Notes from The Walkley Awards website

Artwork - Cartoon - Winner

Cathy Wilcox, The Sydney Morning Herald, "Uncovered Meat"

A simple and powerful jibe at Sheik al-Hilali's controversial comments about scantily dressed Australian women.

Cathy Wilcox only needs a few simple, eloquent lines to reveal the absurdity of Hilali's analogy of underdressed women as uncovered meat before cats – the cats being the poor, hapless menfolk powerless to resist such wanton temptation.

Interpreting his words in the most absolutely literal sense, she subverts a damning soundbite into surreal, high farce.

Wilcox studied Visual Communications at Sydney College of the Arts, then travelled to France where she lived for almost three years.

On her return to Australia she began illustrating children's books and, shortly after in 1989, drawing cartoons for The Sydney Morning Herald, and then from 1993, for The Age in Melbourne as well.

Wilcox has illustrated at least 16 children's books, and has been shortlisted for the prestigious Children's Book Council's picture book of the year three times. She has also published two collections of cartoons, Throw Away Lines (Angus & Robertson) and The Bad Guys are Winning (Lothian Publishing).

This is her second Walkley nomination and her first win.

Judges' comments

This has the power to chill a year after its publication. It exposes the ludicrousness of the Sheik's comments.

The simplicity of the cartoon undermines the preposterous nature of the Sheik. It reduced a complex issue to a strong, simple drawing.