Steve Kelley (cartoonist)

Steve Kelley is a syndicated editorial cartoonist, comic strip creator, comedian, and writer. Until 2012 he was the staff editorial cartoonist for the New Orleans Times-Picayune. He is also the co-creator of the syndicated comic strip Dustin.
Born in Virginia, Kelley was an honors graduate of Dartmouth College in 1981, where he drew cartoons for both the Daily Dartmouth and The Dartmouth Review.

He began his professional career in 1981 at the San Diego Union Tribune. After two decades, he moved to the New Orleans Times-Picayune in 2002 following an incident at the Union Tribune involving a cartoon to his editors depicting two teenagers wearing baggy low-cut pants that did not completely cover their buttocks.

Kelley and Florida Today editorial cartoonist Jeff Parker, who also worked on Mother Goose and Grimm and Blondie in the past, also produce the comic strip Dustin, which debuted in early 2010. The strip won the National Cartoonists Society Reuben Award for Best Newspaper Comic Strip in 2010. Kelley is also a stand-up comedian and comedy writer.

On June 12, 2012, it was reported that Kelley's position at The Times-Picayune would be terminated, as part of a large-scale staff reductions at the paper that included approximately half of the newsroom staff losing their jobs. Kelley said he expected to continue with Dustin while looking for a new newspaper position.

He was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in the editorial cartooning category in 1999. His cartoons have also won the National Headliner Award, the Best of The West competition, the Los Angeles Press Club award, and six first place California Newspaper Publishers Association awards. He won the 2007 National Journalism Awards for Editorial Cartooning. He served as a Montgomery Fellow at Dartmouth College.