Bradford & District | Archive | 2002 | September | 26
From the Telegraph & Argus, first published Thursday 26th Sep 2002.
A Telegraph & Argus artist has scooped a top national award for a quirky cartoon advert series spanning almost a decade.
Bruce Baillie won the Newspaper Society Advertising Award for his off-the-wall humour cartoons for Uriah Woodhead & Son Ltd in Bradford.
The 47-year-old graphic designer created the first cartoon for the building materials company in 1993 - and it was so popular hundreds have followed.
Mr Baillie, who lives at Scholes, said he was delighted to win the award for adverts which have attracted a regular following of readers.
"I think its great. Obviously any recognition is always nice and this is one of the favourite parts of my job," he said.
"John Walker, the managing director at Uriah Woodhead, said when the previous artist left he didn't want any more cartoons and at first he refused. But when we took him some examples he said he liked them and I've been doing them ever since."
The judges said the series had a "great brand personality" and voted them top in the best series of advertisements category.
They commented: "Its media placement was thoughtful and its quirky nature was original and stood out on the page."
Wendy Hand, key accounts and agency manager in the advertising department at the T&A, looks after the Uriah Woodhead account. She said: "It's excellent news. Bruce is really good at coming up with designs and the Uriah Woodhead cartoons are really different. I fax them through for approval and when they ring me back they are always laughing."
Annmarie Jaggar, a director of Uriah Woodhead & Son Ltd, said: "I think the adverts are crackers and daft and Bruce has a weird sense of humour - but they work and our customers enjoy them," she said.
The T&A's sister paper the Ilkley Gazette won the best newspaper initiated event for its first Wedding Fair and a highly commended in the "best classified" section for weekly titles.
© Newsquest Media Group 2008