Ugandan cartoonist and university professor Jimmy Spire Ssentongo Palestinian Safaa Odah have won the 2026 Kofi Annan Courage in Cartooning Award.
Ssentongo and Odah received the award by Freedom Cartoonists Foundation in Geneva, Switzerland on Monday, May 04, 2026.
Formerly Swiss Foundation Cartooning for Peace, the Freedom Cartoonists Foundation supports professional editorial cartooning “as an essential part of civic debate.”
“We stand for a free press as a pillar of democracy and of which political cartoons are a vital element. Through our actions, we defend freedom of speech in a spirit of dialogue,” the foundation says on its website.
“The Foundation pursues its mission through two main activities: the biennial International Cartoonist Award, accompanied by a cartoon exhibition, and the Support Fund for threatened editorial cartoonists. We also organize educational projects aimed at fostering creativity, tolerance and an understanding of human rights.”
The Ugandan cartoonist, known for his satirical pieces in The Observer newspaper and online, has in recent years led or engaged in campaigns like the Uganda Parliament Exhibition which exposed corruption in the legislative arm of government.
Freedom Cartoonists Foundation praised Ssentongo and Odah for their resilience, even in the face of threats on their lives.
“We are proud to announce the laureates of the 2026 Kofi Annan Courage in Cartooning Award: Safaa Odah (Palestine) and Jimmy “Spire” Ssentongo (Uganda). We salute the courage, dedication and resilience of these champions of freedom of speech,” Freedom Cartoonists said on its X account.
Ssentongo said he was humbled and honoured to be awarded. “The Kofi Annan Courage in Cartooning Award 2026 is a humbling recognition!” he wrote.
“It was also such a big honour for the Geneva event to be graced by Nobel Laureate in Economics, Prof. Joseph Stiglitz. I do not take it for granted. Thank you.”
He has been congratulated by activists, including Agather Atuhaire from AGORA Discourse.
“Congratulations Jimmy Spire Ssentongo. This is very well deserved. Your cartoons sensitize, educate, while providing comic relief in our challenging situations. You are seen. You are appreciated. You inspire many of us,” wrote Atuhaire.
UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima saluted Ssentongo for his cartoons that speak for the voiceless and the helpless.
“Congratulations Jimmy Spire Ssentongo! Through your art, you speak for millions who are silenced, crushed, disappeared. Truly deserved,” wrote Winnie Byanyima.
It should be remembered that Jimmy Spire Ssentongo has previously said he received death threats, claiming that some people wanted to kill him for his work, including exposing powerful corrupt officials. (See Details Here and There).
Spire Ssentongo has also also received a human rights defender’s award, causing the Museveni government of giving activists like him awards and money to fight the regime, as detailed Here.
An organization run by Dr Jimmy Spire Ssentongo and Agather Atuhaire was one of the many NGOs whose accounts were frozen by the Museveni government, that has vowed to crush those accused of working with foreigners. (See Details Here and There).
