AN IT support company in Grays is holding a cartoon contest aiming to raise awareness of the importance of IT in every day life.

TechVertu, based in London Road, Grays, is an IT support and technology solution provider for businesses of all sizes.

The firm has organised an exclusive international cartoon contest to express the IT and technology issues in today’s business environment.

The public has the opportunity to vote on their favourite cartoon until September 20, with four works being selected as the people’s choice.

Procurement manager at the firm, Amir Ghoreishi, said: “Soon we realised this is the first International Cartoon Contest on IT and Technology ever happened in the UK, and since we received 500 works from 148 world-class artists from 43 different countries.

“It is one of the most significant international cartoon events hosted in Britain, if not the greatest!

“This campaign aims to increase public awareness regarding IT and tech issues in today’s life.

“We uploaded all the works submitted for the contest on an online gallery, where the public can vote for their favourite artwork.

“A jury consisting of three internationally-acknowledged professional cartoonists would select the winners of TechVertu 1st International Cartoon Contest, and the announcement will take place via a Microsoft Teams event.”

One of the judges is Saman Torabi, from Iran, who has dozens of international awards from art festivals across the globe.

These include the Norwegian Festival, Aydin Dogan of Turkey, Satyricon of Poland, Water Treasures and Cartoon Book.

Voting rules mean people cannot vote for more than one artwork from one artist.

That means a single visitor to the firm’s gallery can vote for a maximum of 148 artworks, the total number of artists.

The voting closes on September 7 and the winners announcement will take place at a later date.

To vote, visit www.techvertu.co.uk/blog/cartoon-contest.