Jim Borgman
From KCpedia
James M. Borgman was born in Cincinnati on February 27, 1954. Borgman graduated from Kenyon with the Class of 1976 and now works as a nationally syndicated cartoonist for the Cincinnati Enquirer. Borgman was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 1985 and won in 1991. His cartoons are printed in over 200 newspapers every day. Borgman returned to Kenyon to give the Commencement Address twice, and received an honorary degree in 1988.
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Background
Jim was raised with his two sisters, Kathy and Mary Jo, and one brother, Tom, in Cincinnati. He attended St. William Elementary School and Elder High School, where he graduated as part of the Class of 1972. He resides in Cincinnati with his wife, Lynn, and their children, Dylan and Chelsea.
Time at Kenyon
While at Kenyon, Jim majored in Fine Arts and drew cartoons for the Kenyon Collegian. During his senior year, he drew a weekly strip for the paper. Outside his major, he took many history, religion and English courses. As a junior, he earned Phi Beta Kappa honors, and he graduated summa cum laude in 1976. That year, he was awarded both the Art Prize, for art student of the year, and the E. Malcom Anderson Cup, a prize for the student who has contributed the most during his or her four years. A mere week after graduation, his hometown paper, the Cincinnati Enquirer, hired him to draw political cartoons, where he has been employed ever since.
Career
After gaining renown as a political cartoonist, Borgman and collaborator Jerry Scott premiered the popular strip Zits in July of 1997, which today is featured internationally in 875 newspapers. His many awards and books are listed below.
Returning to Kenyon
On May 22, 1988, Borgman spoke to Kenyon's graduating class at the 160th Commencement. Of his time at Kenyon, he said,"When I was at Kenyon I felt, (though I couldn't have articulated it then) that I had found a very deep part of myself here, my true self. I understood and came to belong on this gentle, rounded hill and learned how to be myself here on this plot of land, how to live with integrity and carry my values."Borgman was also awarded an honorary degree. In 1991, Borgman again addressed the Kenyon senior class during the 163rd Commencement, and distributed a portfolio of cartoons to illustrate his points. Said Borgman,
"One of the first things you will learn as you begin to share with the world this beautiful, well-nurtured, wild-hearted, lovingly developed gift of your creativity is that the world wants no part of it. You, as Kenyon graduates, have very little choice but to undertake the mission of force-feeding your ideas to a world that, Lord knows, needs them. My experience is that, three hundred sixty-four days a year people will try to run you out of town for doing it, but the three-hundred sixty fifth day, they hand you the Pulitzer Prize, as if to say 'Don't expect us to like what you're doing, but just keep doing it. The world needs you.... Just don't expect to be thanked very often.'"He also gave an interview to the Kenyon Collegian earlier that year, stating in the April 25 issue,
"I think the great cartoonists are not the ones who can draw so magnificently, not that many of us can, but it is really the people who have interesting minds to hold the readers' attention...So that's where I feel Kenyon really fed me. I feel like nothing I took there is wasted...There probably isn't a cartoon I have drawn that doesn't go back, in one way or another, to some thoughts that were already turning at Kenyon."
Awards and Honors
1978 - Sigma Delta Chi Award for Editorial Cartooning
1980 - Thomas Nast Prize, awarded annually to one German and one American cartoonist
1985 - Pulitzer Prize Finalist
1987 - colleagues of the National Cartoonists Society vote Jim "Best Editorial Cartoonist"
1988 - again named "Best Editorial Cartoonist" by the National Cartoonists Society
1989 - third year running, named "Best Editorial Cartoonist" by the National Cartoonists Society
1989 - Ohio Governor's Award
1991 - Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning
1991 - National Headliner Award
1992 - Golden Plate Award
1993 - Reuben Award, Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year, also from the National Cartoonists Society
1994 - fourth "Best Editorial Cartoonist" award from the National Cartoonists Society
1995 - second Sigma Delta Chi Award
1998 - Reuben Award, for Zits with Jerry Scott
1999 - Reuben Award, for Zits with Jerry Scott
2000 - Cincinnati Journalism Hall of Fame
Books
1982 - Smorgasborgman
1985 - The Great Communicator
1986 - The Mood of America
1992 - The Ohio Sports Almanac
1995 - Disturbing the Peace
1998 - Zits Sketchbook 1, with Jerry Scott
1999 - Growth Spurt, with Jerry Scott
2000 - Humongous Zits: Zits Sketchbook 2, with Jerry Scott
2000 - Don't Roll Your Eyes at Me Young Man! : Zits Sketchbook 3, with Jerry Scott
2001 - Big Honkin' Zits: A Zits Treasury, with Jerry Scott
2001 - Mood Swings: Show 'Em How You're Feeling, with Jon Anderson
2001 - Are We an "Us"? : Zits Sketchbook 4, with Jerry Scott
2001 - JIM BORGMAN - My 25 Years at The Cincinnati Enquirer
2002 - Zits Unzipped: Sketchbook 5, with Jerry Scott
2002 - Busted! : Sketchbook 6, with Jerry Scott
2003 - Road Trip : Sketchbook 7, with Jerry Scott
2004 - Teenage Tales : Sketchbook 8, with Jerry Scott
2004 - Thrashed : Sketchbook 9, with Jerry Scott
2005 - Pimp My Lunch : Sketchbook 10, with Jerry Scott
2006 - Crack of Noon : A Zits Treasury, with Jerry Scott
2006 - Are We Out of the Driveway Yet? : Sketchbook 11, with Jerry Scott, due September 1
Resources in the Kenyon College Archives
- James M. Borgman -- collected materials
External Links
- Cincinnati.com, The Cincinnati Enquirer, Jim Borgman
- Amazon.com, Jim Borgman
