![]() (Submitted by Richard Lee, Santa Monica, Calif.)ģrd Place "Sheep Meadow? No, we wanna see the 'Seinfeld' diner." (Submitted by Jon Bander, Astoria, N.Y.) If this were a photograph in the paper, you might caption it thus:Ī) Shepherd experiences trouble trying to guide his flock through the New York subway systemī) Shepherd tries to explain to angry subway passengers why he needs to board train with flock of sheepĬ) Out-of-town shepherd, confused by NYC transit system, asks fellow passengers for directionsĪ creative adaptation of these three approaches would lead you to the finalists that week:ġst Place: "Come on! Do you have any idea how long it took to get through the turnstiles?" (Submitted by Michael Briddon, Cambridge, Mass.)Ģnd Place: "For your information, I have a client who has a lot of trouble sleeping." Write a newspaper-style caption and then adapt itįor example, in one recent contest a shepherd with a flock of sheep on a New York City subway platform was talking to commuters inside a crowded train. “killer” and “whale”) it will not be a finalist.Ģ. Also: even if your caption isn’t the most obvious, if it uses the same key words as the most obvious (e.g. But the simple fact is, if you write the most obvious caption you will be competing with others who have done the same and only one of you will prevail. by people who peek over their shoulder on airplanes). I attended a New Yorker Festival event a few years back in which cartoon editor Bob Mankoff explained that he gets lots of angry letters from people who think their captions were stolen (e.g. The one drawback with the most obvious caption is that thousands of others will also think of it, and many may write it in a slightly better way than you do. For example, when a killer whale is on trial in a courtroom, the lawyer protesting on his behalf SHOULD be saying: "Objection, Your Honor! Alleged killer whale." And that was indeed the winning caption. Here are the only things you NEED to know (plus some links at the bottom to the many others things you may also WANT to know): How can YOU win-or at least make the Top 3 finalist stage, at which point America gets to decide? ![]() Here’s my winning entry (contest number 98): The third time (in the issue), I finished 3rd again. ![]() The first time was when I finished 3rd in the caption contest. For those who are impressed by credentials: I’ve had my work published in The New Yorker three times.
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