CURRICULUM VITAE

BRUCE JOHN MacKINNON


CONTACT INFORMATION

[By request only]


PERSONAL INFORMATION

[By request only]


ART EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

Rudnicki Art Production Services (1984)

Freelance cartoonist/illustrator ( From 1985-present)

Editorial Cartoonist, The Chronicle Herald Limited (1986-present)


EDUCATION 

High School Antigonish Regional High School (1977-1979)

University Nova Scotia College of Art & Design (1982-1984)

Mount Allison University (1981)

St. Francis Xavier University (1980)


AWARDS 

Doctor of Letters, Saint Mary’s University (1996)


National Newspaper Award Winner (Canada): 

1992  Editorial Cartooning 

1993  Editorial Cartooning 

2013  Editorial Cartooning 

2014  Editorial Cartooning

2014  Journalist of the Year

2015  Editorial Cartooning 

2017  Editorial Cartooning

2021 Editorial Cartooning

2022 Editorial Cartooning

2023 Editorial Cartooning



National Newspaper Award (Finalist only): 1998, 1999, 2005, 2011, 2019, 2020


Atlantic Journalism Award Winner: 

1987 Gold Editorial Cartooning

1988 Gold Editorial Cartooning

1989 Gold Editorial Cartooning

1991 Gold Editorial Cartooning

1991 Journalist of the Year

1992 Gold Editorial Cartooning

1993 Gold Editorial Cartooning 

1996 Gold Editorial Cartooning

2000 Lifetime Achievement Award

2003 Gold Editorial Cartooning

2004 Gold Editorial Cartooning

2005 Gold Editorial Cartooning

2007 Gold Editorial Cartooning

2008 Gold Editorial Cartooning

2010 Gold Editorial Cartooning

2012 Gold Editorial Cartooning

2013 Gold Editorial Cartooning

2014 Gold Editorial Cartooning

2016 Gold Editorial Cartooning

2017 Gold Editorial Cartooning

2018 Gold Editorial Cartooning

2020 Gold Editorial Cartooning

2022 Gold Editorial Cartooning

2023 Gold Editorial Cartooning




2nd Prize, World Press Cartoon Competition (2004)

The Coast Best of Halifax Reader’s Survey 

Best Political Cartoonist (2000-2009)

Hall of Fame induction (2009)

Order of Nova Scotia appointment (2011)

Doctor of Fine Arts, NSCAD University (2013)

Friend of St.F.X. Award (2013)

1st Prize, World Press Freedom Award (2014)

2nd prize, Niels Bugge Cartoon Award (2014)

3rd prize, World Press Freedom Award (2016)

Order of Canada appointment (2016)

3rd prize, Art of Resistance Competition, Netherlands (2018)

Sokol Award Finalist, Karikatur Museum Krems, Austria (2018)

2nd prize: World Press Freedom Award (2019) 

3rd Prize: World Press Freedom Award (2020)

Reuben Award (Editorial Cartoon division, National Cartoonists Society, USA) (2020)

Special Award : VII Bienal De Humor Luis D'Oliveira Guimarães, Portugal (2020) 

Humboldt Broncos cartoon placed on national stamp (Canada Post) (2021)

Queen's Platinum Jubilee Medal (2022)

Special Award : VII Bienal De Humor Luis D'Oliveira Guimarães, Portugal (2022)

Award of Excellence : World Press Freedom Award (2023)

First prize : World Press Freedom Award (2024)

Satyrykon Legnica Distinction Award [Poland, 2025] 




BOOKS

Inklings (1990)

Inklings II (1994)

Pendemonium (2002)

Penetration (2010)

Drawing Opinions (2013)

Prime Suspects (2017) 

MAGAZINES

Maclean’s Magazine - Cover - Feb 17, 1997

Maclean’s Magazine - 5 Illustration spread for national poll - Jan 05, 1998

Maclean’s Magazine - 2 page illustration for G-7 coverage June 19, 1995

 

EXHIBITIONS


SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS


2015 Guest Speaker: Eurocature (Vienna Austria)

2015 Cartoonists: Foot Soldiers of Democracy (Reel Artists Film Festival, Toronto)



BIBLIOGRAPHY



PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS

Association of Canadian Cartoonists

Association of American Editorial Cartoonists


BIOGRAPHY


A native of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Bruce MacKinnon studied at St. Francis Xavier University, Mount Allison University and the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design.

 

His first professional experience in cartooning was at the age of 14, when he was hired to draw cartoons for the local weekly, The Casket. While in high school, he drew for the Antigonish Spectator and while attending St. F.X. University, he was a contributing cartoonist for the Xaverian Weekly. Bruce started drawing a weekly editorial cartoon for the Halifax Chronicle-Herald in 1985, working at home while raising his newborn daughter. He joined the paper full-time in August of 1986. 

His work has been featured in publications and exhibits all over the world.


To date he has won seven National Newspaper Awards, six in the editorial cartooning category -1992, 1993, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017 and he was also awarded the first ever NNA Journalist of the Year award in 2014. 

He has won 20 Atlantic Journalism Awards for Editorial cartooning, including Journalist of the year in 1991 and a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000. 

In 2004 he won second prize in the World Press Cartoon Competition in Portugal. 

In 2014 he won the World Press Freedom Award and also took second prize in the 2014 Niels Bugge International Cartoon Award, in Denmark. 

In 2015 he won honourable mention in the caricature category of World Press Cartoon competition. 

In 2016 he won 3rd prize in the World Press Freedom Award. He has also won the World Press Freedom Award of Excellence in 2007, 2012 and 2017. 

In 2017 he won the (English) Townsie Award, presented by the Association of Canadian Cartoonists to their choice of top English Canadian editorial cartoon of the year. 

In 2018 he won third prize in the Art of Resistance Competition in the Netherlands. Also in 2018, he was anonymously nominated by a member of the jury to be a finalist for the Sokol Prize, an international cartooning/caricature award administered by the Krems Karikatur Museum in Austria. 

In 2019 he won 2nd Prize in the World Press Freedom Award.

He was named Best Political Cartoonist in Halifax for nine years running by The Coast newspaper before it elevated him to their Hall of Fame, thus retiring him from further contest. 

In 1996 he was awarded an honourary doctorate by St. Mary's University for his work in the field of editorial cartooning. In October, 2011 he was appointed to the Order of Nova Scotia and in 2013 he received both an honourary Doctor of Fine Arts from NSCAD University and the Friend of St.F.X. Award from St. Francis Xavier University. In 2016 he was appointed to the Order of Canada.

 

MacKinnon's cartoons have been acquired by the National Archives of Canada, the Library of Congress, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, as well as other galleries. Many of his originals are part of St. Francis Xavier University's permanent art collection. He has published four books of cartoons and caricatures: Inklings (1990); Inklings II (1994); Pendemonium (2002); and Penetration (2010), which marked his 25th year with the Chronicle Herald. 

 

MacKinnon lives in Halifax with his wife, Peggy. His daughter, Robyn, is a visual artist and his son, Jamieson, is a drummer who performs with Bruce as the father-son duo, Bruce & Jay.