Two Buffalo-area students recently were selected as winners in a national editorial cartoon contest that was held in memory of legendary cartoonist Herb Block’s 100th birthday.

Alan Kawahara, a 2009 Orchard Park High School graduate who now attends Syracuse University, is the high school division winner for his cartoon on the 2008 presidential election.

Kawahara, 18, said his high school art teacher entered his cartoon in the contest.

“I try to draw on my own time because I love art. I am studying architecture at Syracuse University, which is fortunate for me because it is closely tied to art,” Kawahara said.

The middle school division winner is Aries Barry, 14, who now attends West Seneca East High School, for his cartoon titled “Wii Fat” about obesity and video games.

Matt Davies, the Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist for the Journal News, was one of the contest judges.

“For maximum effect, a good editorial cartoonist seeks out irony to be exploited in as creative and communicative a manner as possible. I chuckled at the ‘we fat’ wordplay of Aries’ cartoon and then raised my eyebrows after contemplating the irony of an entertainment phenomenon wherein physically ever-expanding Americans play sports—via a hand-held remote and video screen. In this case, Aries scored a cartooning home run,” Davies said of Aries’ winning cartoon.

“Showing prodigious caricaturing skills and an impressive level of visual sophistication, Alan managed to convey his personal opinion on the 2008 presidential race with skepticism, wit and clarity. These qualities— coupled with a playful disregard for editorial ‘decorum’—won Alan this year’s Herblock Prize for High School Students. I look forward to seeing his future works,” Davies said.

Block spent more than five decades as an editorial cartoonist at the Washington Post. The Journalism Education Association and Herb Block Foundation partnered to present the awards for cartoons published during the 2008-09 school year.

Five entries were submitted by The Buffalo News of work students entered in its own 2009 Editorial Cartoon Contest.

Kawahara and Barry will each receive $500, round-trip airfare to attend the JEA/NSPA convention from Nov. 12 to 15 in Washington, D. C., free hotel accommodations, meal expenses throughout the convention and a copy of “Herblock.”

“That money will most definitely be going toward my college expenses,” Kawahara said.

Aries says he plans to use his award to purchase a video camera “so I can film sports.”

Both winners will be honored and presented with their prizes at the opening ceremony of the convention Nov. 12.