Bill Leak Is The Cartoonist Of The Year, Declare Bill Leak’s Employers

In news that in no way feels like a giant middle finger to anyone who was offended by his recent, appalling depiction of Indigenous Australians, News Corp Australia cartoonist Bill Leak has been declared Cartoonist of the Year at an awards ceremony hosted by … wait for it … News Corp Australia.

The News Awards are News Corps’ in-house awards. They’re kind of like The Walkleys, except you have to be employed by Rupert Murdoch to win one. Held on Friday night, this year’s ceremony saw The Australian take home Newspaper of the Year, while the gong for Best Website went to The Herald Sun. So in that context, Bill Leak’s win kind of makes perfect sense.

Naturally, the veteran cartoonist was humble and gracious in victory:

"Suck on that Mediawatch" says Bill Leak after winning Cartoonist of the Year! Bravo #newsawards

— Miranda Devine (@mirandadevine) August 12, 2016

Miranda Devine aside, the rest of the internet was not having a bar of it.

So are the #NewsAwards2016 like when preschools hand out smiley-face stickers to the unpopular and awkward kids, so no one feels left out?

— Wyld, Karen (@1KarenWyld) August 12, 2016

And the award to the best Fake awards goes to #NewsAwards2016!!

— Arif (@Atozai) August 12, 2016

News Corp won every one of the #NewsAwards2016, so it's not like Michael Phelps getting his 22nd gold was the only big achievement today.

— John Johnsonson (@JohnJohnsonson) August 12, 2016

Retraction of the Year was a tough one, hard to seperate the many contenders, so they gave them all an award #NewsAwards2016 #newsawards

— HyperBrendan (@HyperBrendan) August 12, 2016

In a related story, I’m thrilled to announce that I have just now been declared the winner of the Junkee Award for Most Handsome Weekend Editor. Pretty impressive, no?