Chronology

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1. Civil rights era · 1945–1975

2. 1968–1969
   Publication, speech or performance · Chapel Hill Jeff MacNelly draws editorial cartoons for the Chapel Hill Weekly

   UNC student Jeff MacNelly began drawing editorial cartoons for the Chapel Hill Weekly under editor Jim Shumaker, then left school to work for the paper full time. He modeled the editor in his later comic strip Shoe on Shumaker.

3. 1972
   Award or honor · Richmond Jeff MacNelly wins the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning

   Jeff MacNelly, a former Chapel Hill Weekly cartoonist then drawing for The Richmond News Leader, won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning at the age of 24.

4. Recent decades · 1976–2026

5. April 1978
   Award or honor · Richmond Jeff MacNelly wins a second Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning

   Jeff MacNelly, a former Daily Tar Heel sports editor and Chapel Hill Weekly cartoonist, won his second Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning while at The Richmond News Leader.

6. 1985
   Award or honor · Chicago Jeff MacNelly wins a third Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning

   Jeff MacNelly, by then the editorial cartoonist of the Chicago Tribune, won his third Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning.

7. April 14, 1985
   Award or honor · Carolina Inn, Chapel Hill Jeff MacNelly is inducted into the North Carolina Journalism Hall of Fame

   UNC's School of Journalism inducted Jeff MacNelly, then a two-time Pulitzer winner, and five other journalists into the North Carolina Journalism Hall of Fame at a banquet at the Carolina Inn.

8. October 12, 1986
   Award or honor · Memorial Hall, Chapel Hill UNC gives Jeff MacNelly its Distinguished Alumnus Award

   At the University Day convocation in Memorial Hall, UNC presented Distinguished Alumnus Awards to cartoonist Jeff MacNelly, Justice Henry E. Frye, Rolfe Neill, Banks C. Talley Jr. and John A. Montgomery.

9. January 1992
   Property or economic transaction · Chapel Hill Jeff MacNelly pledges $25,000 toward a UNC journalism professorship honoring Jim Shumaker

   Jeff MacNelly pledged $25,000 to the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication toward the James H. Shumaker Term Professorship. Shumaker had edited the Chapel Hill Weekly when MacNelly drew for it as a student.

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Compiled and maintained by the Friends of the Orange County Public Library from county records, the sources named on each card, and the index’s event pages. Last updated October 2, 2026.