Celebrate cartooning and free speech Thursday, Nov. 15 at the National Press Club.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 14, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Celebrate cartooning and free speech Thursday, Nov. 15 at the National Press Club. Longtime supporters of Cartoons & Cocktails and newcomers will gather in the ballroom for the biggest live and silent auction of editorial cartoons in town. They will vie for works by a dozen Pulitzer Prize winners and 50 of their colleagues.

Kevin "KAL" Kallaugher who cartoons for The Economist and The Baltimore Sun is the emcee.. He'll be introducing auctioneers from local and national media, The Washington Examiner publisher Michael Phelps among them.

What's on the block?  Original work by Politico's first Pulitzer winner and Cartoons & Cocktails honorary chairman Matt Wuerker and The Washington Post's Tom Toles and Ann Telnaes and scores more. Cartoonists who have migrated from the drawing board to the tablet have donated prints, most with original signatures.

Read all about the beneficiaries--the teen-produced regional newspaper Young D.C. and the human rights organization Cartoonists Rights Network International--when you visit www.cartoonsandcocktails.org.

In a hurry? Charge your tickets at www.cartoonsandcocktails.org/tickets3.htm

Your all-access pass (yes, you will meet cartoonists) is $75 per person. It includes keepsake catalog, bid card, two drinks, butlered light fare and competitive fun at the silent auction tables (6–8 p.m.) and in the live auction (7 p.m.–9:30 p.m.).

Have a little more time? Check out three short videos of earlier auctions:

2011 at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN5DlMWPZrE

2010 at
http://cartoonsandcocktails.org/video.htm

and 2007 at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRGw89tJ4_Q

Peter Berg, Young D.C.'s intern from the Lab School of Washington animated this year's invitation. Go to  http://youngdc.org/25thCnC/inv_anim2012.htmljust to broaden your smile today.

Questions? Call the Young D.C. newsrooom, 202.232.5300

SOURCE Young D.C.