THEME: POL

PUB DATE	WEEK	TITLE	SYNOPSIS	THEMES	LINKS TO THIS CONTEST	WINNER	LINKS TO RESULTS OF THIS CONTEST (usually published 2-4 Weeks later)
March 14, 1993	2	WRITE A MOTTO. WIN A MONSTROSITY.	Maryland needs a new motto, a multi-purpose slogan suitable for placement on a state seal or a license plate. Something grand, something that embodies the full bodacious majesty of the state.	SLO POL	Text file | Contest image	"Oslo"	Text file | Contest image
June 27, 1993	17	REDUCTIO AD ABSURDUM	Come up with an easy way to reduce the federal deficit, in 20 words or fewer.	POL	Text file | Contest image
August 1, 1993	22	STUMP US	Come up with slogans for the 1996 presidential campaign.	POL	Text file | Contest image
August 29, 1993	26	CASTING ABOUT FOR AN IDEA	Name a political person (past or present) and the TV or movie role in which he or she could have been cast.	MOV POL TEL	Text file | Contest image
September 12, 1993	28	MOTHERS-IN-LAW OF INVENTION	Propose some drastic change in government to help the economy or otherwise improve the quality of life in America.	POL	Text file | Contest image
October 31, 1993	35	LIGHT AT THE END?	Tell the federal government what it should do with the 14-mile-long, 15-foot-diameter sausage-shaped tunnel it dug near Waxahachie, Tex., for the Superconducting Super Collider project that was scrapped by Congress last week.	POL	Text file | Contest image
November 13, 1994	87	WEST EASY, ANN	Come up with good things about West Virginia, in 50 words of fewer.	POL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 20, 1994	88	GIVE US SOME GOOD NEWS	Come up with ways things are going to be different now that Republicans have ascended to power.	POL	Text file | Contest image
January 22, 1995	97	NEWTONIAN PHILOSOPHY	Come up with more Newt Gingrich philosophy to explain the differences between men and women, Democrats and Republicans, dogs and cats, whatever needs explaining.	POL	Text file | Contest image
September 10, 1995	130	NICELY STATED	Create a fictional city to be humorously paired with a real state abbreviation.	POL	Text file | Contest image
February 18, 1996	153	STUMP US	Complete this sentence, "I should be elected President of the United States because…" and launch your campaign.	POL	Text file | Contest image
May 5, 1996	164	MEAN MEANINGS	Translate things politicians say into what they really mean.	POL	Text file | Contest image
December 29, 1996	198	YOU MUST BE MAD II	Come up with proposals designed to infuriate special interest groups.	POL CUL	Text file | Contest image
March 9, 1997	208	SEND IN THE CLONES	Suggest questions a commission to investigate the moral, legal and practical question raised by cloning might consider.	POL REL SCI	Text file | Contest image
April 13, 1997	213	A SIN OF THE TIMES	Submit campaign or other political practices that would be illegal and/or unethical.	POL	Text file | Contest image
November 2, 1997	242	SACRED COW PIES	Take cheap shots at sacred institutions only, places and things that are so noble and wholesome they are beyond reproach, from among the items provided.	POL CUL REL	Text file | Contest image
December 21, 1997	249	BAD NEWS, GOOD NEWS	Supply a silver lining for any scourge or social ill facing America or the world.	CUL POL	Text file | Contest image
February 1, 1998	255	SCANDAL IN THE WIND	Each of the provided items is somehow related to the current presidential scandal. Tell us how.	POL	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
March 22, 1998	262	CAMPAIGN FOR ONE	Design a line for Niels Hoven to deliver in his campaign for a student government office that will wake up a snoozing audience.	POL	Text file | Contest image
May 10, 1998	269	SIGNS, AND THE TIMES	Come up with new, helpful signage for downtown streets. You must state the problem, and propose the sign to rectify it.	CUL POL	Text file | Contest image
October 18, 1998	292	PAYING THE BILL	Propose appropriate punishments for President Clinton.	POL	Text file | Contest image
November 22, 1998	297	FREE FOR OIL	Take any article in today's paper, and write an outraged letter to the editor about it that totally misses the point, either by misreading a word or misunderstanding the topic.	WAS CUL POL REL	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
February 28, 1999	311	A JERRY-BUILT CONTEST	Find cleverly disguised threats to public morality or hallowed American values that may be secretly lurking out there in our culture.	CUL POL	Text file | Contest image
March 5, 2000	339 (VI)	Campaignful Developments	Come up with signs that a presidential campaign might be in trouble.	POL	Text file | Contest image
May 28, 2000	351 (XVIII)	Dubya Fun	Take any well-known statement, expression, slogan, etc., and rewrite it the way Dubya might have said it.	POL	Text file | Contest image
July 23, 2000	359 (XXVI)	It's No Party	Come up with a new political party and its main political tenet.	POL	Text file | Contest image
July 1, 2001	408 (LXXV)	What's In a Name?	Take the name of any politician, living or dead, and construct an appropriate message from the letters of the name. You may use any letter as many times as you wish, and you may insert punctuation.	LET POL	Text file | Contest image
May 12, 2002	453 (CXX)	Haiku 2 U2	Write a haiku summarizing the career of any American politician, living or dead. A haiku is generally defined as a nonrhyming poem, of three lines. The first and last lines are five syllables; the middle line is seven.	POE POL	Text file | Contest image
February 9, 2003	492 (CLIX)	Cheap Tricks	Come up with extreme cost-conserving measures for these difficult economic times.	POL	Text file		Text file
March 2, 2003	495 (CLXII)	Words of One Syl- … Um, Just Short Words	Take some complex issue of any sort and explain it to all us morons entirely in words of one syllable.	POL	Text file
August 3, 2003	517	Insert Joke Here	Slip a single bogus sentence into next year's State of the Union address, figuring the Prez will probably just read it right off the teleprompter.	POL	Text file
February 22, 2004	546	A Nice Pair of Cities	Choose any two or more real U.S. towns and come up with a joint endeavor they would undertake.	POL	Text file
October 17, 2004	580	United Nations	Combine the names of any two countries in the world and describe the new hybrid country.	POL	Text file
November 14, 2004	584	Deliver Us a Post	Come up with some new Cabinet or other positions that the president could establish, and describe the job responsibilities.	POL	Text file
August 7, 2005	622	Our Sunday Constitutional	Write a new article or amendment to the Constitution, using on the words contained in the existing document (including amendments).	POL WOR	Text file
December 11, 2005	640	Whassa Motto Wid You?	Give us a slogan or motto for any of the states, the District or the U.S. Territories.	SLO POL	Text file
July 2, 2006	669	Huddled Messes	Suggest some bad advice for new arrivals to this country (legal or illegal).	POL	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
February 4, 2007	700	Stump Us	Come up with someone's slogan for the 2008 presidential campaign.	POL	Text file
April 15, 2007	709	A Return Engagement	Come up with some novel change to the tax code: a tax on something ought to be taxed, a credit for something that should be rewarded, what the $3 should go to instead of presidential campaigns, etc.	POL	Text file
September 22, 2007	732	The Chain Gang	Supply a chain of 25 names -- they may be names of people, places, organizations, products, etc., but they must be names -- beginning and ending with "George W. Bush."	POL	Text file | Post e-version
November 10, 2007	739	Lies, All Lies	Give us some humorous fictional revelation about a current or past political figure.	HIS POL TRI	Text file | Post e-version
December 29, 2007	746	We Err The World	Give us a motto or short slogan for any country in the world.	SLO POL	Text file | Post e-version
May 17, 2008	765	It's Doo-Dah Day	Write humorous lyrics commemorating any of the 50 states of the District, set to any of these Stephen Foster songs.	POE POL	Text file
September 13, 2008	782	That's the Ticket!	Explain why any of the items on the list below is qualified to be President of the United States.	POL	Text file
October 4, 2008	785	The Ballad Box	Write a short, humorous song somehow relating to the presidential campaign, set to a familiar tune.	POE POL	Text file
November 1, 2008	789	Doctrine in The House?	State a humorous, original "doctrine" for a person or other entity.	POL	Text file
November 8, 2008	790	If Only!	Explain how the world would be different had some event not occurred.	POL HIS CUL	Text file | Contest image
December 13, 2008	795	Stimulate Us	Tell us what the government ought to be spending our money on.	POL	Text file | Post e-version
December 27, 2008	797	Be Resolute	Make a humorous resolution for some particular person or institution to accomplish next year.	POL BUS	Text file
July 4, 2009	824	Jestinations	Give us a slogan for any city or town.	SLO POL	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
July 17, 2010	878	Safety in blunders	Tell us a way to make the nation more secure.	SCI POL	Text file
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
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
November 25, 2012	998	Set the law on us	Suggest an odd law for a particular place in the world.	POL	Text file | Contest image
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 29, 2013	1040	IRS my case	Schedule A: Suggest a novel way for the government to determine taxes. Schedule B: Suggest a deduction that you'd like to take, or that some real or fictional person past or present might like to take. Schedule C: Suggest a cause you'd rather check off $3 for.	POL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 7, 2016	1161	Give us four Pinocchios	Tell us some false "facts" about politicians, present or past. (Conversational text)	HIS POL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 29, 2016	1177	The ballad box	Write a song related to this year's elections, set to a familiar tune.	MUS POL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 17, 2016	1184	Plan C -- a third candidate?	Explain why some novel person (or thing) should be president; you could also suggest a president-veep ticket. (Conversational text)	POL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 4, 2016	1204	Well, at least …	Note some good news for the coming year to comfort -- or "comfort" -- those who are depressed about the change of presidential administration. (Conversational text)	POL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 12, 2017	1214	The alternaugural address	Write a humorous passage — a “quote,” an observation, a joke, a dialogue, a poem, anything — using only words that appear in Trump’s inaugural address. (Conversational text)	WOR POL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Frank Osen	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 3, 2017	1243	We bid you: No T-R-U-M-P	Coin a new term, or choose an existing one, whose letters do not include a T, R, U, M, or P, and write a humorous definition. (Conversational text)	WOR POL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 1, 2018	1273	Restocking the Cabinet	Explain why a particular person -- or thing -- ought to fill a Cabinet post or other U.S. government position. (Conversational text)	POL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Duncan Stevens	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 19, 2018	1293	Constitutional unconvention	Humorously translate or explain some part of the U.S. Constitution. (Conversational text)	POL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 18, 2018	1306	PolitiCaroling: A song parody contest	Write a song about something in the news lately -- political or otherwise -- using a Christmas, Hanukkah or New Year's tune.	MUS POL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 23, 2018	1311	Nextra! Nextra! The year in preview	Name some humorous event to happen in 2019.	CUL POL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 31, 2019	1325	Stand up and jeer	Give us some original standup jokes that would have been good at this year's White House Correspondents' Dinner.	POL JOK	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Jesse Frankovich	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 2, 2019	1334	Mull 'er over: A search for collision	Combine any two words, names, abbreviations, etc., from anywhere in the redacted Mueller report, in a two-word or hyphenated phrase and define it.	WOR POL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version		Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 15, 2019	1349	Revise and extend these remarks	Go to congress.gov/congressional-record and click on the PDF for any day's Congressional Record. Choose any sentence (or substantial part of one) and write a question that it could answer.	POL QUE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 8, 2019	1361	2020 vision -- the year in preview	Name some humorous news event to happen in 2020. (Conversational text)	CUL POL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 13, 2020	1414	Divining comedy: 2021 predictions	Name some humorous news event to happen in 2021. (Conversational text)	CUL POL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 30, 2021	1438	Nothing but the untruth: Fake trivia about the law	Give us some bogus trivia about the law -- lawyers, courts, judges, police, odd laws, terminology, what have you. (Conversational text)	TRI POL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
YEAR 31 BEGINS