Instead of the usual venting or ego stroking why not come up with a solution? Take an honest look at the situation , look at the options available and pursue the best ones. This would be a far more productive use of your time.

You’re supposed to be a bunch of accomplished professionals, start acting like it.

Submissions increased as word got around. 15+ cartoonists began sending cartoons weekly. The price went down by 25%, then dipped some 10% more. The Trib was sold to Sam Zell. Debt went through the roof. The Trib underwent a radical redesign. Layoffs. More layoffs. The Local Draw cartoons shrank in size, then got dropped to irregular publication status. Editors changed. Editors changed again. Cartoons disappeared completely. Trib files Chapter 11.

I don’t always feel that editors are the enemy in all this. They are trying to keep their own jobs and cartoons represent cost. Most of the Trib editors really liked evaluating the cartoons and took efforts to pick the best ones available that week.

It’s the economy. No money for drawings. I think editors appreciate a good editorial cartoon. They just can’t afford it anymore.

Perhaps some enterprising cartoon maven that is familiar with website construction could set up a venue for this purpose? Then any interested parties could submit their own top five to be voted on by the body. Seems that this would have more of an inprimatur than some nebulous and subjective dartboard nomination of disaffected junior editors at a declining magazine.

Nothing. Read the full thread.

And then explain why the AAEC would want to pass up a chance to promote its members’ work?

I mean, do you understand that, when a film — even a mediocre one — wins an Oscar, ticket sales go up? That a Caldecott medal sells books? That a Grammy sells records and a Tony sells theater tickets?

The AAEC — of which I am not a member nor qualified to be one — exists to promote editorial cartoons. This would be one way to do that.

And what makes you think your picks would be any less biased? Any top 10 list I have ever seen is full of crap and obviously biased or not well thought out. I just read Entertainment Weekly where they list the “Top Ten Most Notable Events of 2008″ Three of them are movie premieres. Seriously, the premiere of Sex and the City is one of the top ten of 2008?

Even if you post nominees and have people vote, what you end up with is still not the best. ie. Just because someone wins American Idol doesn’t make them the best singer in the competition.

Maybe it’s that people get hung up on the terminology that if someone creates a best of list that it is absolute and therefore insulting to anyone not on the list. Instead, maybe you create a post of “Ten Editorial Cartoons of 2008 that I Liked Best”

Which will be never, according to the HuffPo CEO.

Now that’s a predatory food-chai … er, “business model” I’d like to be on top of.

That might sound good, as soon as they start paying their bloggers.

I think it was also Seth though, who expressed the opinion that sites like Huffington will eventually fail because free just doesn’t work longterm. Contributors will eventually want to get paid. Duh.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/

Maybe the Toles one that’ll be coming will be better.

Regarding Huffington Post, I have no idea how the economics work, but I saw Mort Gerberg speak a few days ago and he’s submitting cartoons from one of his new books to them, presumably for the publicity. I know he shows up regularly now in my pre-set Google searches for cartoons. (He was pretty darn amusing in person too) ((Is darn ok, Alan?))