International Holocaust Cartoon Competition
International Holocaust Cartoon Contest was a 2006 cartoon competition sponsored by the Iranian newspaper Hamshahri, to denounce what it called "Western hypocrisy on freedom of speech". The event was staged in response to the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy. Several public figures, including the United States State Department, the Israeli Foreign Ministry, and United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan strongly criticized the contest. In January 2015, in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo shooting and the magazine's subsequent decision to publish further cartoons of Muhammad, the Iranian House of Cartoon and the Sarcheshmeh Cultural Complex in Iran announced that they would be sponsoring The 2nd International Holocaust Cartoons Contest. Selected cartoons were exhibited in Tehran beginning on May 14, 2016. 2006 competition On February 6, 2006, Farid Mortazavi, graphics editor of Hamshahri, announced a competition for cartoons on the Holocaust. The twelve best contributions were to be rewarded with a gold coin each, which were later increased to $5,000 to $12,000 prizes for the top 3 cartoons and 3 gold coins each for 12 other cartoonists. Later, Hamshahri published an English introduction to the contest, as well as preliminary rules. The contest was created in response to the twelve cartoons published