His "Wise Up" cartoon launched the viral #Draw4Atena campaign in 2015 on behalf of jailed Iranian artist Atena Farghadani.

[8] He was the emcee and co-programmer of the first-ever "Graphic Novel Night" Pavilion at the Library of Congress's National Book Festival.

In October 2017, Cavna shared his personal "Peanuts" history in the Eisner Award-winning book[15] Celebrating Snoopy.

[16] In April 2018, Cavna, with narrator/animator Tom Racine, won the Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi Award[17] for his audio/visual storytelling for For Art's Sake.

[18] In April 2019, his "Comic Riffs" column portfolio of arts writing and illustration received a second National Headliner Award.