Oct. 24, 2019 at 3:32 p.m. EDT It wasn’t a costume or party idea, but surely no one will argue that Jesse Frankovich doesn’t fully deserve a zippered bag with a naked-belly motif for hisexquisitely carved Style Invitational pumpkin that he sent us (by photo, thankfully) as an entry in Week 1351, whose results run today . I had forgotten that Jesse was a hands-on crafter as well as a virtuoso wordsmith, until I remembered that he’d also crocheted a set of L, O, S, E and R coasters and donated them as a prize. We’ve had many lovely prizes handmade for the Invitational over the years. The most elaborate is probably the leaded-glass magnet box crafted by Loser Peyton Coyner back in the day and pictured below. But we recently had a basket crocheted from tightly twisted Washington Post delivery bags by reader Janine Borofka. And back in 2012, we offered the following — whose photo I don’t have because I couldn’t print it in the paper and now the link is dead: “Second place wins a very special item, created by Jolene Mosley and donated by Andrea Kelly; it is like the ones sent to male members of Congress during the recent all-male hearing on birth control funding. Loser Anne Paris describes it as ‘a lovely hand-knitted replica of intimate female parts, suggesting what Martha Stewart would be inspired to create if she went to the gynecologist while stoned,’ while fellow Loser Craig Dykstra calls it a ‘she-cozy.’ ” It was adorable. A custom-crafted key chain made by an artisan in Thailand in 2010. (Pat Myers/The Washington Post) A custom-crafted key chain made by an artisan in Thailand in 2010. (Pat Myers/The Washington Post) Oh, and I don’t want to forget the “Loser” key chain that Larry Yungk commissioned from a metalworking artisan at the Lumphini Night Bazaar in Bangkok, who made it for him on the spot. “It cost him about $3 plus plane fare.” A prize in Week 859, 2010, It is now part of the John Glenn (not that one) Loser Stuff Collection. My apologies to the donors of equally impressive handcrafted prizes that have slipped my mind. If you’d like to make something silly yourself and hand it over to me for free to go to who-knows-who, please let me know! Red‘ux’! It’s the ‘Sty’le Invitational ‘air quotes’ contest I’m leery of doing exactly the same contest we’ve done several times before that’s not specifically about current events, but Jesse Frankovich’s list of half a dozen brand-new ideas persuaded me that we could safely do “air quotes” yet again. For inspiration and guidance for Week 1355 — and to make sure you’re not repeating an entry that’s already gotten ink — here are links to our previous results (scroll down past the new contest if necessary). If a certain “air quote” has been noted but your description is a different joke, that’s fine. One way to avoid repetition is to work with newer names and terms. Week 1280, 2018 Week 1134, 2015 Week 1031, 2013 Week 826, 2009 Week 405, 2001 Week 336, 2000 Fortunately, we have a very wordy and namey language. Deadline is Monday night, Nov. 4. Snicker treat*: The Halloweenies** of Week 1351 /*Non-inking headline by Duncan Stevens; ** non-inking headline by everybody else/ Invitational readers have up to a whole week to steal your ideas (at least the remotely feasible ones) for Halloween contests and parties this year. Nobody went to the trouble to assemble and don a costume weeks ahead of the holiday for the purpose of sending me a photo, but Jesse’s pumpkin proved a great visual, and Lee Graham’s decoration of a “Nosferatu” still was lovely as well. I’m not sure exactly how one would effect a costume out of a twirling lawn sprinkler, but it mattered not at all: Hildy Zampella’s idea of putting googly eyes on it to make a Rudy Giuliani was one of very few entries this week to generate a genuine belly laugh. Ace Copy Editor Doug Norwood deemed it “fabulous!” complete with exclamation point (or “banger” in journalese). Aside from Jesse’s pumpkin, this week’s other runners-up used wordplay: Bob Kruger’s literal “spinning in their graves” and Sam Mertens’s whistleblower. The latter is sure to pop up at every Washington party next weekend, perhaps with that Sam-inspired target on his or her back. Along with M-Peach, Peach-Mint, I’m Peach, etc., there were numerous suggestions to go as some hybrid of a ewe and a crane, or to have a ukulele suspended from a crane arm. I bet that someone out there is going to build a fantastic costume on one of these puns. This Sunday, a Czar-studded event! (Plus a little Loser one.) Gene Weingarten, whose pair of Pulitzers are mere footnotes in his career under the main chapter of Founder and Czar of The Style Invitational, is going to be reading from and talking about his just-released book “One Day” this Sunday, Oct. 27, from 5 to 6 at Politics & Prose bookstore in upper Northwest Washington. The book, subtitled “The Extraordinary Story of an Ordinary 24 Hours in America” and six years in the making, tells well over a dozen deeply reported stories that are centered on a randomly chosen day, December 28, 1986. The idea is gimmicky, but the execution is art — kind of like J.S. Bach’s writing a fugue theme based on the letters B-A-C-H (a.k.a. B-flat). I know this because I read Gene’s manuscript — I think the whole thing — in bits and pieces over the years, and was continually riveted. The Politics & Prose appearance is free, but it’s a relatively small space; they just put out a few dozen chairs and other people stand around in the stacks. So if you’re going, I suggest you get there early. The Royal Consort and I plan to go — and Losers Roy and Inge Ashley, who live nearby, tell me that you’re all welcome to stop by their home afterward for a snack and a chat. (See Roy at the event for directions; I’ve been to Roy’s house and he has all sorts of cool mementos and such.) And in November … We have our Loser brunch Nov. 10 at noon at Paradiso Italian Restaurant (nice buffet — breakfast stuff, lunch stuff, mimosas) on Franconia Road, just outside the Beltway. I am a buffet nut and try never to miss this stop on the yearly brunch rotation. I’m looking forward to meeting some people who’ll be attending their first Loser event. And Jesse Frankovich is still awaiting a schedule about the D.C. convention he’ll be attending Nov. 18-20 (Monday-Wednesday), so it’s still up in the air about whether we can schedule an in-town Dorkness at Noon lunch one of those days before he heads back to Michigan. Aorta say ‘whew’ to Bob Staake! As I noted in this week’s Invitational, Bob Staake plans to be back next week while he’s on the mend from an emergency valve job, which he didn’t make public until he got out of the hospital near his home on Cape Cod and then a week in rehab. Just this afternoon, Bob posted a photo of his giant sternum scar on Facebook (I’ll spare you) with the following message: “For those who wondered if I fell off the planet or something, I have a pretty good excuse: A couple weeks ago I visited the hospital for an impromptu chest shaving — and the next thing I know the doctors are rushing me to the ER, opening up my heart and replacing my aortic valve in a five-hour operation. The good news is that while my flapper needed swapping out, my heart is STRONG and I don’t have coronary disease — the bad news is you’re all stuck with me for a few more decades. “While I don’t remember saying it, as they were hurrying me into the OR I apparently reminded my surgeon, ‘Just remember, doc — I still have a LOT of creating to do.’ ” I know how Bob can greet the trick-or-treaters next Thursday!