Darrah beat over 90 entrants to claim the title, with the University of Queensland employee reporting that he was “thrilled” with the result.

“Our decision was based on a few factors”, explained Desktop editor Jo Spurling, whose editorial team had a part in judging entries for the award.

“We considered originality, relative-ness to an Aussie Christmas – snowy scenes were a bit off the mark – and creativity. We wanted someone who was thinking outside the realm of the obvious Xmas connotations.

“Finally, we gave points for touching on the current issue of environment and sustainability, and for the use of humour, which I think is a very Australian quality.”

Darrah’s entry featured Christmas scenes lampooning petrol prices, water restrictions and energy saving.

“Somehow, the Rudolph energy-saver bulb idea came into my head,” explained Darrah, “and from that idea I developed a set of cards that were themed on how Christmas could be today.”

“I wanted to try and give the Christmas cards a hand-drawn and almost childish ‘colouring-in’ look to make them less corporate feeling.”

Darrah’s designs will now be part of Worldwide’s Christmas Card selection for 2008, along with a few other entries from the top 10.

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