THEME: BUS

PUB DATE	WEEK	TITLE	SYNOPSIS	THEMES	LINKS TO THIS CONTEST	WINNER	LINKS TO RESULTS OF THIS CONTEST (usually published 2-4 Weeks later)
July 9, 1995	121	IT'S NO USE	Come up with useless products.	BUS	Text file | Contest image
November 12, 1995	139	EMPLOYMENT LINES	Come up with jobs that make even your crummy job seem good.	BUS	Text file | Contest image
November 3, 1996	190	OFFICE YOU CAN'T REFUSE	Come up with a Principle for the Workplace.	BUS	Text file | Contest image
March 1, 1998	259	SPARE EXCHANGE, BUDDY?	Take any phone number of any business or government office in the Washington area, translate the first two digits into their constituent letters and propose any appropriate one-word exchange.	LET POL BUS	Text file | Contest image
April 12, 1998	265	A SPORK OF GENIUS	Come up with new products like the spork: combinations of two existing products that work together in some special way. Name the device and explain its function.	BUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 1, 1998	294	PRODUCT LIARBILITY	Take the name of any commercial product and redefine it.	BUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 13, 1998	300	A BRAND NEW CONTEST	Come up with celebrity-brand products.	BUS	Text file | Contest image
January 10, 1999	304	TIME OF THE SIGNS	Come up with appropriate signage to appear outside any business or retail establishment in the Washington area, including government offices.	WAS BUS POL	Text file | Contest image
March 14, 1999	313	THE STYLE INVITATIONAL SOUVENIR SHOP	Come up with bad names for a new store at a mall.	WOR BUS	Text file | Contest image
May 23, 1999	323	THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORD INVITATIONAL	Come up with not-quite-ready inventions, past or present.	SCI BUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 4, 2000	352 (XIX)	A Laff Riot	Take the name of a company and/or its commercial product and provide it a new definition.	BUS	Text file | Contest image
February 11, 2001	388 (LV)	Pitches in the Dirt	Come up with a sales pitch to get any surplus product off the shelves.	BUS	Text file | Contest image
November 25, 2001	429 (XCVI)	Shark Instruments	Tell us what would be a sign that any current institution--TV show, newspaper feature, magazine, business, etc.--has jumped the shark.	TEL CUL BUS	Text file | Contest image
June 23, 2002	459 (CXXVI)	Stock Humor	Look at any of the abbreviated company names in the Nasdaq or New York Stock Exchange listings in any newspaper's business section and suggest what business the companies might be in.	BUS	Text file | Contest image
November 10, 2002	479 (CXLVI)	Invest Case Scenario	Suggest new companies in which it might be unwise to invest.	BUS	Text file | Contest image
December 15, 2002	484 (CLI)	Manufracturing	Take any product and explain how it would be different if it were designed by a different existing company.	BUS	Text file | Contest image
November 30, 2003	534	The Feminine Touch	Propose how any male-dominated occupation or institution would change if it suddenly became female-dominated.	BUS CUL	Text file
February 1, 2004	543	Read Our Leaps	Fill any readers of The Washington Post on Sunday, Feb. 29, 2032, on: (a) the day's lead news story; (b) the highest-flying company and its business; (c) the best-selling self-help book; and/or (d) the day's winning Style Invitational entry.	WAS BUS LIT STY HIS	Text file
February 29, 2004	547	Give Us a Bad Name	Take an existing product or business name and pair it with an incompatible one.	BUS	Text file
May 23, 2004	559	Your Slogan Here	Come up with a clever slogan or sign for a business.	SLO BUS	Text file
August 29, 2004	573	Thine Ad Goest Here	Propose biblical and other literary passages, poems, etc., that could benefit from product placement.	POE REL LIT BUS	Text file
October 24, 2004	581	Evil Things in Store	Think of evil or just plain stupid practices that the staff of a retail or other establishment might perpetrate.	BUS	Text file
January 9, 2005	592	We Got Gamy	Offer us a concise idea for a Super Bowl commercial, or some innovative halftime entertainment, or some inappropriate sponsors, or some ideas for improving the game itself.	ATH BUS CUL	Text file | Contest image
January 23, 2005	594	History Loves Company	Name an appropriate corporate sponsor for some historical event or for someone's life story.	BUS HIS	Text file
February 20, 2005	598	Site Gags	Come up with an appropriate name for a cafeteria--or meeting room, or an employee lounge, or some other workplace spot--for a particular institution.	WOR BUS	Text file
October 16, 2005	632	Live On, Sweet, Earnest Reader (Inc.)	Give us an original backronym for a company or product. A backronym is a fake etymology that often gets in a little dig at the subject.	WOR BUS	Text file
December 18, 2005	641	Dreck of All Trades	Come up with a business that combines two or more disparate products or services, and tell us its name and/or something else funny about it.	BUS	Text file
January 8, 2006	644	Winter Limp Picks	Brighten up the Winter Olympics with some new events and rules. Alternatively, you can suggest a commercial or ad campaign that could be tied in with the Winter Games or one of its sports.	ATH BUS	Text file
February 5, 2006	648	Caller IDiot	Name a product or company and supply a stupid question to ask the consumer hotline person.	BUS QUE	Text file
September 24, 2006	681	Ticket to Write	Write a jingle for a business (or its product), organization or government agency, set to a Beatles song.	POE BUS POL MUS	Text file
November 19, 2006	689	Busted Play	Come up with a more objectionable or stupid toy than a working fart-powered toy rocket.	BUS	Text file
January 21, 2007	698	Let's Get Personnel	Send us some humorously creative questions that a job interviewer would ask an applicant, or some questions it might be fun to ask the interviewer.	BUS	Text file
May 20, 2007	714	Amalgamated Steal	Merge two or more company or product names into a new, ORIGINAL company or product.	BUS	Text file | Contest image
June 28, 2008	771	Groaner's Manuals	Come up with a humorous name for a guide or manual for, or a book about, a particular enterprise or organization.	WOR BUS	Text file
September 20, 2008	783	The Shill Game	Name a celebrity or fictional character to endorse a real product or company.	BUS CUL	Text file
December 27, 2008	797	Be Resolute	Make a humorous resolution for some particular person or institution to accomplish next year.	POL BUS	Text file
February 21, 2009	805	Brand Eccchs	Give us an original name in any of the above categories (not an actual badly named product).	BUS	Text file
April 4, 2009	811	Rock-Bottom Lines	Tell us a sign that the economy couldn't get worse.	BUS CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 25, 2009	827	Caller Idiot	Name a real product or company and supply a stupid question or complaint for the consumer hotline person.	BUS QUE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 1, 2009	828	Inhuman Puns	Make a pun on the name of a familiar group, organization or company, and describe it or provide a quote from it.	BUS JOK WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 26, 2009	836	Other People's Business	Describe what might happen if any of the above institutions (a) were run by an institution of your choice or (b) ran an institution of your choice.	POL BUS REL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 7, 2010	881	What's in a name?	Take the name of a person or institution. Find within it a hidden message.	LET BUS POL	Text file
September 4, 2010	884	Rekindling the spork	Combine two devices or other products to make a new one.	BUS	Text file
November 27, 2010	896	Other people's business	Describe what might happen if any of the above institutions (a) were run by an institution of your choice or (b) ran an institution of your choice.	BUS REL POL	Text file
March 13, 2011	910	Your ad here	Slightly alter an advertising slogan so that someone else could use it.	SLO BUS	Text file | Post e-version
July 10, 2011	927	Drive-By Shoutings	Write a very short four-line “poem” promoting a product or company, or offering advice to drivers; the poem must rhyme, in ABAB or ABCB rhyme scheme. A fifth, non-rhyming line may state the product name or a conclusion.	POE BUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 26, 2012	960	Raving reviews	Send us a creative "review" for any of the provided items that are listed on Amazon.	BUS CUL	Text file | Contest image
July 29, 2012	981	Feeling testy	Write a question that "ought to" be on a qualifying test for a particular job.	BUS	Text file
September 23, 2012	989	On the double	Come up with a double or multiple profession, and explain how each job complements the other(s).	BUS	Text file | Post e-version
October 14, 2012	992	Mittsterpiece Theatre	Suppose public-TV shows, past or present, were turned out onto the open market to make a living on commercial TV. Tell us what would happen.	BUS TEL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 30, 2012	1003	Just do it	Use a well-known advertising slogan for a different company, organization or product to humorous effect.	SLO BUS POL	Text file | Post e-version
June 30, 2013	1027	Built for two	Give humorous related names for any pair of features in a given building, organization, etc.	BUS POL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version		Text file | Contest image | Post e-version (pub 7-28-13)
September 8, 2013	1037	Outrage us	Find something offensive about an inoffensive name of a product, organization, place, etc.	BUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 12, 2014	1093	You're only as rich as you fee	What are some really bad ideas for various businesses to make a few more bucks? (Conversational text)	BUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 16, 2014	1098	Prime time for some Amazon reviews	Send us a creative "review" for any of the provided items that are listed on Amazon. (Conversational text)	BUS CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 15, 2015	1111	When you riff upon a store	Use a wordplay on a song title as a name or slogan for a real or imagined business. (Conversational text)	WOR BUS SLO	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 13, 2015	1140	You're giving us a bad name	Cite a REAL brand name, past or present, note its original use, and then say what sort of product, organization, etc., that name would be bad for. (Conversational text)	BUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 11, 2015	1144	Someone else's business	Name a real brand, along with something else it would be a better name for. (Conversational text)	BUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 5, 2017	1217	Mergers you wrote: Combine two businesses with puns	Give a clever name for a combination of two or more businesses. (Conversational text)	BUS WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Tom Witte	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 10, 2017	1244	Primed for product reviews	Send us a creative "review" for any of the provided items that are listed on Amazon. (Conversational text)	CUL BUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 19, 2017	1254	Inkorporation--a change-one-letter contest	Change the name of a present or past business, store or agency (not just a product) by adding one letter, deleting one letter, transposing two letters or substituting one letter for another. (Conversational text)	LET BUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 28, 2018	1264	A cry for Yelp: 'Review' any place	Write a humorous review, positive or negative, of anyplace (real of fictional) one might visit. (Conversational text)	CUL BUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 15, 2018	1288	Your results may vary	Write a funny disclaimer or warning for some product or service. (Conversational text)	BUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 3, 2019	1321	Pumping Prime: Amazon reviews	Send us a humorous "review" (like the provided samples from our earlier contests) for any of the provided items.	BUS CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	David Hammond	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 10, 2019	1322	Back to the drawing board	Come up with an idea for an invention that still needs a bug ironed out.	SCI BUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Jeffrey Contompasis	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 1, 2020	1373	Prime time for some Amazon reviews	Send us a humorous "review" for any of the provided Amazon-listed items. (Conversational text)	BUS CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	David Prevar	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 14, 2020	1388	Turning around a business	Create a business, product, organization or similar entity that contains a word, name or phrase and its anagram, and describe it. (Conversational text)	BUS ANA	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 19, 2020	1393	Second chance (acned conches?) for anagrams	Describe any of the provided anagram businesses, or offer its slogan. (Conversational text)	ANA BUS SLO	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 25, 2020	1407	Your ad space (or space ad) here	Come up with an idea for promoting some commercial product or service (a) in space, (b) in a prison, (c) at a kindergarten, (d) by a football team or (e) in the White House. (Conversational text)	BUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 27, 2022	1477	Thinking outside the big box	Send us a humorous "review" for any of the provided items listed on walmart.com<\em>. (Conversational text)	BUS CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
YEAR 31 BEGINS