Sunday, March 11, 2018

I am a finalist in the New Yorker cartoon caption contest this week…please vote for me.



Yesterday, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and author, Michael Hiltzik, dubbed the New Yorker’s cartoon caption contest “[p]ossibly the lamest contest in all creation” (in a Tweet directed at me):



However, many of us ordinary folk love to submit captions to the New Yorker’s weekly contest that appears on the last page of each issue. Why? Because it's fun. And as a fiction writer, I consider it a form of writing prompt for what amounts to be a very short story.

The contest has spawned a fair number of articles including Pete Chianca’s rants such as “Proof the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest is full of crap” and  More proof the New Yorker caption contest is trying to screw me” (these are worth reading).

Perhaps the most famous winner of the contest is the late (and great) Roger Ebert whose victory is recounted in this New Yorker piece by Robert Mankoff.

And then there’s the remarkable streak of seven wins by Chicago attorney, Larry Wood. Yes, Wood has won seven times.

As a short-story writer and poet, I’ve dreamed of being published by the New Yorker (what writer hasn't?). Well, my dream has come true, sort of. 

This week, my caption is among the three finalists. You may view them here. For your convenience, here is my caption with the cartoon:


Therefore, my words and byline have now appeared in the New Yorker. However, I want to win. I can taste it. Damn it, please let me win.

How do I do that? My fate is in your hands, dear La Bloga readers. Go online and vote, it’s that simple. You need to create an account to do so, but it’s free.

Has a Chicanx ever won this contest? I’m not certain. But if not, we might break another literary glass ceiling.

Mil gracias.

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