Campbell, who has worked for The Canberra Times since 1998, said it had taken some getting used to the new medium.

''I think that I'm actually slower now because of the undo button, but then I'm also more comfortable with experimenting a bit,'' he said.

It was also the year he won one of Australia's highest journalistic awards - a coveted Walkley artwork award in November for his illustration Glimmer of Hope, which depicts then prime minister Julia Gillard as a lonely figure bathed in light surrounded by a stormy sea. His favourite pieces of work for the year were both comments on Australia's refugee policies.

''If I had to choose one, it would either be the asylum seekers mocking up their boats, if for no other reason than because I enjoyed drawing it and the badly drawn Qantas logo,'' he said.

''Or the owl and the pussy cat finding themselves in the Bong Tree Detention Facility, having sailed away for a year and a day, with a little forbidden love being thrown in for good measure.''