![]() ![]() Copywriter portfolioThe New Yorker Caption Contest - My captionsThe New Yorker Cartoon Contest At the outset of New Yorker magazine's Cartoon Caption Contest, I often entered. Below are some of my lines. One of my captions, entered in the name of a friend, was chosen as a finalist, except that it was credited to yet another person who I presume submitted it earlier. Sometimes I thought my caption was better than the winner, sometimes I had to admit I was bested.* Because rules allow only one entry, most of these were not submitted. Past contests are no longer online, although some can be found here and there. If you know of a source to link to, please let me know. PROMISE: No lines shown here were written after the respective deadline. * Case in point: An early contest showed a high-level executive running past his assistant, carrying a surfboard. I don't remember if I entered, but I do remember the winner and the runner up. The winner had him saying something like "Gnarly surf's up." Okay, that's out of character for a CEO, so it's funny, but the runner-up was: "Gotta go. Water main break on Third Avenue." Now that's funny, because it's not only out of character, it plausibly exaggerates a very real (if rare) scene in New York City. And, after all, this is The New Yorker. The top winnner is chosen by vote among all readers, many of whom are not in New York. It reminds me that tastes and viewpoints vary, an important consideration for a marketing copywriter. (I later learned that the contest screener had been recently imported from Texas.) It's been a joy to read the entries all the weeks since, but I was spending far too much time, and plenty of others were carrying the ball so adroitly, so eventually I dropped out. Enjoy!
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