The Style Invitational’s Almost Forever Cartoonist, Bob Staake, has taken to posting on Facebook like a . . . well, like a compulsive Facebook poster, delighting his 4,999 “friends” not only with off-the-wall, often tasteless status lines (“I’ll never snort bath salts with a monkey again, I’ll never snort bath salts with a monkey again”) but also with various samples of his many book projects and cartoons — including ones for the Invitational. The problem is that most of Bob’s “friends” aren’t familiar with the Invite, and he’ll often post the cartoon from one of our contests without a caption or any other context, thus prompting a rushed explanation and link from the Empress. This week: Tell us which Style Invitational contest any of these Bob Staake cartoons might be illustrating — either one of our real contests or one you make up. (Click on the thumbnails to see Cartoons 2-5.) Usually, the cartoon illustrates a sample entry for that week; your entry may either describe the contest and provide the example, or treat the cartoon as an illustration of the contest’s concept itself. If you’re new to the Invite, you’ll want to look at the dozens of past contests and cartoons posted at wapo.st/StyleInv. Be sure that your entry makes clear which cartoon you’re referring to; clicking on “caption” shows you the numbers.
Winner gets the
Inkin’ Memorial,
the bobblehead that is the official Style Invitational trophy, along with a copy of that week’s print Invitational signed and dedicated by the Bobster himself. Second place also receives the Bobographed paper as well as a tin of Zombie Mints — “Mmmm! Brain Flavor!” (or at least, really, “artificial meat flavor”; tastes just like artificial meat, we guess), donated by Loser Pie Snelson.
The Style Invitational
The Style Invitational is The Post’s weekly humor/wordplay contest, serving up since 1993 an irreverent mix of highbrow and lowbrow -- haughty and potty -- in genres ranging from neologisms to cartoon captions to elaborate song parodies. A new contest appears at washingtonpost.com/styleinvitational every Friday.
Archive
Other runners-up win their choice of a coveted Style Invitational Loser T-shirt, a yearned-for Loser Mug or the ardently desired Grossery Bag. Honorable mentions get a lusted-after Loser magnet. First Offenders get a smelly, tree-shaped air “freshener” (FirStink for their first ink). E-mail entries to
losers@washpost.com
or fax to 202-334-4312. Deadline is Tuesday, Sept. 4; results published Sept. 23 (online Sept. 20). No more than 25 entries per entrant per week. Include “Week 985” in your e-mail subject line or it might be ignored as spam. Include your real name, postal address and phone number with your entry. See contest rules and guidelines at wapo.st/inviterules. The subhead for this week’s honorable mentions is by Kathy El-Assal; the alternative headline for the “next week’s results” line is by Robert Schechter. Join the lively Style Invitational Devotees group on Facebook at
on.fb.me/invdev.
Report from Week 981
in which we asked you to come up with funny test questions and/or answers for applicants for a particular job: Some entries were more like job interview questions but otherwise met the stated parameters of acceptability within our evaluative rubric. In other words, close enough because they were funny.
The winner of the Inkin’ Memorial
Job: Suicide prevention hotline:
Q. A caller claims he has nothing left to live for. What do you do first?
A. Remind him not to end a sentence with a preposition. (Barry Koch, Catlett, Va.)
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