IMRIE BLITZES UK ‘DIGITAL’ CHAMPIONSHIP

Fully recovered from his semi-final defeat Vs ROOTS @ the UK Championships 12 months ago, crowd favourite IMRIE was back with a single minded ambition: Win!

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Round 1 saw him up against new-comer and fellow cartoonist Max K. Battling against headline: Rapid Spread Of Omicron Has Cities Scrambling To Cope With Demand For COVID Tests gave both artists an opportunity to tackle one of the biggest stories of the week. Max depicted a castle under siege from a coordinated Omicron assault while IMRIE delivered a left-field interpretation depicting grimacing inner city apartments armed with antiviral spray in a ‘Doom’esque’ composition. Despite Max winning the social vote IMRIE secured the victory logging high scores across Narrative & Technical judging categories.

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Into the Quarter-Finals a ‘fight-ready’ Bad Leprechaun lay-in-wait. A challenging headline: TikTok Wants You To Come Dine With Them, But Who Wants Cold Pesto Eggs? saw both competitors dig-deep as they grappled with a complex narrarive. Arguably playing to IMRIE’s strengths he quickly worked through a ‘cartoon strip’ portrayal storyline securing his place in the Semi-Finals.

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A Semi-Final showdown with Pencil Bandit saw two of the circuit's most stylised illustrators go head-2-head working to headline: Britney Spears Slammed Her “White ‘Classy’ Family” In A Scathing Instagram Post. IMRIE adopted a make or break ‘Kitch Pink’ colour selection while Pencil Bandit remained ‘on-brand’ with his customary ‘Citrus Yellow’. Losing the judges vote unanimously IMRIE managed to rally his fan base last minute winning the social vote by the smallest of margins ultimately nudging himself into the final by just 0.5 points.

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The final would prove a stern test as IMRIE faced off against pro-cartoonist and illustration heavyweight JERKMONGER who divided judge opinion during the Semi-Finals beating a solid and ever improving Hood Tendacies. IMRIE worked quickly to create a bustling composition full of narrative depicting headline: UK Tabloid Prints Front-Page Apology To Meghan Markle For Publishing Private Letter, staying true to his stylised approach, clever and fresh portrayals of Megan and Harry appealed to his base who once again voted him through ultimately securing the win and taking the UK title by just 0.25 points!