Gaza’s horror wins top global cartoon prize as Portuguese artist depicts child’s suffering

Portuguese cartoonist André Carrilho has won the Grand Prix at World Press Cartoon Oeiras 2026 for a haunting illustration of Gaza’s suffering, depicting a Palestinian child with amputated limbs displayed like a museum exhibit.

The award, worth approximately $11,240, was announced on Thursday, October 15, in Oeiras, Portugal.

The winning cartoon, titled Gaza, for the History of Horror, was published on October 5, 2025, on the cover of Portuguese newspaper Público and its P2 supplement.

It accompanied a special edition marking two years of Israel’s war in Gaza.

The illustration shows a wounded child standing on a pedestal, supported by a crutch. One arm and one leg are missing. Blood stains the child's white shirt.

Around the child stand ancient sculptures, themselves damaged and missing limbs.

Visitors photograph the exhibits with their mobile phones.

The composition draws a disturbing parallel between historical ruins and the destruction of human lives in Gaza. It also questions a world that documents suffering while failing to prevent it.

The organisers praised the illustration for its humanitarian message and sharp social criticism.

Carrilho also secured first place in the Editorial Cartoon category.

He received a third-place award in Caricature for his depiction of British politician Nigel Farage, published in The New Statesman.

This is Carrilho's second Grand Prix victory. He previously won in 2015 for a cartoon about the Ebola epidemic.

World Press Cartoon director António Antunes said cartoonists remain defenders of free criticism despite growing political pressure and challenges posed by artificial intelligence.

The competition's other first-place winners included Spain's Joaquín Aldeguer in Caricature and Serbia's Toso Borkovic in Gag Cartoon.

The 19th edition features 281 selected works. Its exhibition opens Saturday, October 17, at Palácio Anjos in Algés, Portugal, and runs until January 24, 2027.

Carrilho's winning work offers a stark indictment of the world's response to Gaza: a wounded child preserved as an image of horror, while spectators continue taking photographs.

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