Matt Golding wins 2025 Political Cartoonist of the Year
Matt Golding of The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald has been named the 2025 political cartoonist of the year, with judges praising his work as funny, poignant and inventive.
The award is run by the Museum of Australian Democracy (MoAD) and awarded annually by judges who assess work produced by cartoonists across the country for originality, impact and aesthetic appeal.
Matt Golding at Old Parliament House.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
This year, political editor of The Australian Financial Review Phil Coorey; cartoon academic Dr Stephanie Brookes; president of the Australian Cartoonists Association Cathy Wilcox; MoAD senior curator Anne-Marie Condé, and Behind the Lines exhibition curator Matthew Jones awarded the top prize to Golding, describing him as a “master of the pocket cartoon”.
Known for his whip-smart, funny and incisive drawings, Golding sees his work as a way of making sense of politics, society and the world more generally. “It’s just a great way to communicate an idea and also just deal with the world,” he says. “There’s a power in the medium in the way it can communicate really complex ideas.”
Golding on Golding.Credit: Matt Golding
However, cartooning is often stressful, given very tight deadlines and a fast-moving news cycle. “It’s really fun once you have the idea. Up to that point, you are not always the best person to be around.
“What I love about the job is that every day is a new creative challenge, and to a certain extent, it doesn’t really matter what that subject is – you want to take all the different aspects and ideas and whittle it down to its essence and capture that, as simply as possible,” Golding says.
Well-rounded arguments.Credit: Matt Golding
“Of course there are harrowing issues – the rise of domestic violence, the Middle East conflicts, the Ukraine war – but the process is still the same, it’s trying to communicate an essence of an idea or a comment.”
“It’s the same creative challenge, but some are easier than others. Barnaby lying on his back, talking on a mobile phone in the Canberra night, just add a speech bubble and you’ll be doing OK.”
Always fascinated by the drawn image, Golding knew from the age of five that he wanted to be a cartoonist. He recalls loving the illustrations in Little Golden Books, and then when learning the alphabet at Numurkah Primary School, admiring the form of the letters as they were drawn on the blackboard.
“I remember going, wow, the lower case ‘a’ is really quite beautiful. Everyone else is learning the alphabet and I was just mesmerised by watching these images appear. You’re seeing the world in a visual way,” he says.
It is the second time Golding has won the award – the first was in 2018. He is also a Walkley Award-winner and has received multiple Stanley Awards from his peers at the Australian Cartoonists Association.
He began his career as a political cartoonist with The Melbourne Times, where they could only afford to pay him for one day a week. As a result, he produced a remarkable 12 cartoons a day for over a decade.
“That was my apprenticeship. That’s what I considered to be [what you did]. And, of course, you’re dying to be a cartoonist, and the only way you can get better is by actually doing the job. What a great way to get better at the craft.”
With apologies to Edward Hopper.Credit: Matt Golding
Golding is thrilled with the news, which he describes as a bonus. “Being employed to do what you love, that is the prize, and you get one of those every day. So this is just ridiculousness on top.”
His win coincides with the opening of Behind the Lines 2025: Are We Rolling?, an exhibition of the year’s best political cartoons, at the MoAD, part of Old Parliament house in Canberra.
Works about the federal election and its aftermath, climate change, the plight of First Australians and the housing crisis feature, as well as offerings about artificial intelligence, wars overseas and the second Trump presidency.
The show includes 130 of the best cartoons of the year, by 45 of Australia’s finest cartoonists. Now in its 30th year, Behind the Lines is one of Australia’s longest-running annual exhibitions.
The other Tinder.Credit: Matt Golding
Former ABC journalist Barrie Cassidy, chair of the board of Old Parliament House, says that 30-year run is remarkable. “[The exhibition] has become a cultural landmark, bringing together political commentary, humour and art and where Australians unpack the year with razor-sharp perspicacity.
“This milestone underscores the enduring power of satire and creativity in our democracy.”
MoAD acting director Andrew Harper said Behind the Lines features outstanding works by a stellar cast of cartoonists from across the political spectrum. He hopes visitors to the exhibition leave with a greater appreciation of the importance of cartoonists in our democratic system.
“Like a good movie, they take us on an emotional journey – they make us laugh and make us cry in equal measure,” he said.
Part of the exhibition this year is curated by investigative journalist and author Chris Masters, who has looked back over his career and selected cartoons that address stories of corruption exposed by the media.
Behind the Lines 2025: Are We Rolling? is at MoAD at Old Parliament House, Canberra, from December 4 until November 2026.
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