THEME: WAS

PUB DATE	WEEK	TITLE	SYNOPSIS	THEMES	LINKS TO THIS CONTEST	WINNER	LINKS TO RESULTS OF THIS CONTEST (usually published 2-4 Weeks later)
March 7, 1993	1	SHEDDING THE SKINS?	Come up with a new name for the Redskins.	WAS ATH	Text file | Contest image
July 4, 1993	18	PUNCH US IN THE EAR	Give us a motto for The Washington Post.	WAS	Text file | Contest image
November 14, 1993	37	A STATE OF DISGRACE?	Propose any of the following for D.C.: A State Name, A State Flower, A State Bird, A State Slogan, A State Capital, A Governor, An Insulting State Joke.	WAS	Text file | Contest image
December 19, 1993	42	HEY, IT COULD BE WORSE	There are worse things in life than the Washington Redskins. Just tell us what they are.	WAS	Text file | Contest image
February 6, 1994	49	A SLALOM OCCASION	Come up with events for a Washington Olympics. They can be winter or summer sports, based on bureaucracy or other themes peculiar to Washington, and must include a brief description of the event.	WAS ATH	Text file | Contest image
July 3, 1994	71	CAPTION CRUNCH III	Come up with a new, funnier caption for any picture or illustration anywhere in today's newspaper.	CAP WAS	Text file | Contest image
August 7, 1994	76	ADIOS.	Tell us, in 40 words or fewer, what is great about August in Washington. It's August, and we're out of here.	WAS	Text file | Contest image
October 2, 1994	81	HEADS, YOU LOSE	Take any two or more headlines anywhere in today's Washington Post, and combine them to make a funnier headline.	HEA WAS	Text file | Contest image
March 5, 1995	103	SEND HELP.	Come up with ways to raise some badly needed cash for the District of Columbia.	WAS	Text file | Contest image
June 18, 1995	118	WEAK 118	Take any photo caption or headline appearing anywhere in today's Post and alter its meaning by adding, deleting, or changing one letter.	CAP HEA WAS	Text file | Contest image
December 17, 1995	144	JUST REBUS ALONE	Come up with a rebus, a phrase or sentence composed of letters, pictures, and symbols. Your entry must contain at least two pictures or illustrations from today's Washington Post.	WAS	Text file | Contest image
February 4, 1996	151	STRIP MINING	Come up with a concept for a new, controversial strip to replace an existing one in The Post.	COM WAS	Text file | Contest image
February 11, 1996	152	WE ARE CURIOUS (YELLOW)	Take any headline in today's Washington Post and rewrite it in tabloid fashion so the story seems a lot more scandalous and/or lurid than it is.	HEA WAS CUL	Text file | Contest image
March 10, 1996	156	HYPHEN THE TERRIBLE	Create new word by combining the first half of a hyphenated word with the second half of a hyphenated word. Both words must appear in the same story anywhere in today's Washington Post. Each entry must provide a definition for the newly created word.	HYP WAS	Text file | Contest image
April 14, 1996	161	CAPITOL MISTAKES	Come up with very, very bad advice for first-time visitors to Washington.	WAS	Text file | Contest image
August 25, 1996	180	WHEN IN DOUBT, PUN	Take any headline in today's Post and improve it by somehow turning it into a pun.	HEA WAS	Text file | Contest image
March 16, 1997	209	WE NEED SOME SEASONING	Come up with the first signs of spring in Washington.	WAS	Text file | Contest image
August 31, 1997	233	SEEKING PARODY	Take any paragraph appearing on Page A1 of today's Washington Post, and rewrite it in the style of any famous writer.	WAS LIT	Text file | Contest image
January 25, 1998	254	DOUBLE JEOPARDY!	Take any sentence appearing anywhere in today's Washington Post, and make up a question to which it could be a plausible answer.	WAS QUE	Text file | Contest image
June 14, 1998	274	THE DROLL OF A LIFETIME	Be the New Yorker comics editor, and explain to readers of The Washington Post why the provided jokes are charmingly witty.	WAS	Text file | Contest image
June 21, 1998	275	THERE ONCE WAS CONTEST FROM NANTUCKET …	Write a limerick in which the first line is about someone who comes from some place in the Washington area.	LIM WAS POE	Text file | Contest image
August 9, 1998	282	TAKING SNIDES	Take any story anywhere in today's Post and append to it a single snide observation, concerning either the headline or the text of the story.	WAS	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
January 24, 1999	306	YOUNGIAN THERAPY	Suggest ways in which the Style Invitational or any other Washington area institution can become more relevant to younger people.	WAS STY CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 18, 1999	331	DRAWING ON CREATIVITY	Come up with an idea for a fictional central character for a comic strip based in Washington, D.C., and the environs. Describe your character in as much detail as you wish, and give the strip a name.	WAS COM	Text file | Contest image
March 26, 2000	342 (IX)	Plainly Ridiculous	Take any direct quotation from any article in today's Washington Post and translate it into "plain English."	WAS	Text file | Contest image
February 4, 2001	387 (LIV)	By Jingo	Come up with a joke that could be written and understood only by a Washingtonian.	WAS	Text file | Contest image
August 19, 2001	415 (LXXXII)	Sentence Us to Death	Take any sentence appearing anywhere in today's Washington Post, and invent a question that it answers.	WAS QUE	Text file | Contest image
February 17, 2002	441 (CVIII)	Spit the Difference	Take any two nouns that appear on the front page of today's Washington Post and explain how the nouns differ from each other.	WAS	Text file | Contest image
March 3, 2002	443 (CX)	Sick Humor	Come up with modern diseases of Washington life.	WAS	Text file | Contest image
April 21, 2002	450 (CXVII)	Blues It or Lose It	Write the first verse of a blues song expressing some Washington area woe.	WAS	Text file | Contest image
July 7, 2002	461 (CXXVIII)	Punch Us Again	Take any comic from the daily Washington Post during the next week and make it better by changing the contents of the final word balloon.	WAS COM	Text file | Contest image
October 13, 2002	475 (CXLII)	Bad Connection	Take any two seemingly unrelated stories from anywhere in today's Washington Post and explain how their subjects are linked in some unholy conspiracy or other suspicious way.	WAS	Text file	Czar: "Week CXLII ... required you to find funny hidden cabals in the news stories of the day. A daunting task. Too daunting. None of the measly 120 entries produced even a germ of an idea worthy of publication."
February 16, 2003	493 (CLX)	A Major Offensive	Find something anywhere in today's Washington Post and complain about it with absurd oversensitivity.	WAS	Text file		Text file
April 13, 2003	501	Questionable Sentences	Take any sentence appearing anywhere in today's Washington Post and make it the answer to a question.	WAS	Text file
May 25, 2003	507	Crocktails	Come up with a drink named for something or someone associated with Washington and describe the drink.	WAS	Text file
August 17, 2003	519	Hey, Baby, What's Your Sector?	Come up with pickup lines that could be heard only in Washington.	WAS	Text file
December 21, 2003	537	The New York Post	Liven up any article appearing in The Washington Post or its Web site over the next eight days by giving it an irresponsibly sensationalistic headline.	WAS HEA	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
June 6, 2004	561	Deform of a Question	Take any sentence appearing in The Washington Post or washingtonpost.com today through June 14, and make up a question to which the sentence could be an answer.	WAS QUE	Text file
February 13, 2005	597	Eccchsibits	Come up with some alternative museums and exhibits for the nation's capital.	WAS	Text file
July 24, 2005	620	Keep the Empress Employed	Suggest some original, creative ways that The Post could increase its circulation.	WAS	Text file | Contest image
July 31, 2005	621	Questionable Journalism	Take any sentence that appears in The Post or in an article in washingtonpost.com anytime through Aug. 8 and supply a question it could answer.	WAS QUE	Text file
June 18, 2006	667	Questionable Journalism	Take any sentence that appears in The Post or in an article on washingtonpost.com anytime from now through June 26 and supply a question it could answer.	WAS QUE	Text file | Contest image
November 26, 2006	690	Funnies: How Time Flies	Pull Billy of "The Family Circus" -- or any of his comic strip neighbors in The Washington Post -- out of his time warp to a different age, era or place, and provide a short storyline or dialogue or caption.	WAS COM	Text file | Contest image
March 25, 2007	706	Questionable Journalism	Take any sentence that appears in The Post or in an article on washingtonpost.com from March 24 through April 2 and come up with a question it could answer.	WAS QUE	Text file
September 1, 2007	729	Otherwordly Visions	Take any sentence in an article or ad in The Washington Post or on washingtonpost.com from Sept. 1 through Sept. 10 and translate it into "plain English."	WAS WOR	Text file | Contest image
May 31, 2008	767	Questionable Journalism	Find any sentence (or a substantive part of a sentence) that appears in the Post or in an article on washingtonpost.com from May 31 through June 9 and come up with a question it might answer.	WAS QUE	Text file
August 23, 2008	779	Gripe for the Picking	Rant about any issue that wouldn't make your top 100 for airing in The Post.	WAS	Text file
October 3, 2009	837	Strip Search	Combine two comic strips that appear in The Washington Post or at washingtonpost.com/comics and describe the results.	WAS COM	Text file | Post e-version
December 12, 2009	847	Questionable journalism	Find any sentence (or a substantive part of a sentence) that appears in The Post or in an article on washingtonpost.com from Dec. 11 through Dec. 21 and come up with a question it might answer.	WAS QUE	Text file
February 6, 2010	855	The news could be verse	Sum up an article (or even an ad!) in any Washington Post print or online edition from Feb. 6 through Feb. 15 in verse.	POE WAS	Text file
December 4, 2010	897	Catch their drift	Take any sentence from an article or ad in The Washington Post or washingtonpost.com from Dec. 3 to Dec. 13 and translate it into "plain English."	WAS LAN	Text file
January 8, 2011	902	What's the good news?	Take any sentence, or substantive part of a sentence, or a headline from an article or ad in The Washington Post or washingtonpost.com from Jan. 7 to Jan. 18 and make it sound upbeat (or not so bad).	WAS	Text file | Post e-version
January 30, 2011	905	Anticdotes	Give us an untrue anecdote responding to one of these past Editor's Query topics.	WAS	Text file
July 31, 2011	930	We WANT stupid complaints!	Complain comically unreasonably about some innocuous thing appearing in the print Post or on washingtonpost.com over the next week or the previous few days.	WAS	Text file
March 11, 2012	962	Questionable journalism	Take any sentence (or a major part of it) that appears in the Post or in an article on washingtonpost.com anytime from now through March 19 and supply a question it could answer.	WAS QUE	Text file | Post e-version
March 24, 2013	1014	Join now	Combine the beginning and end, or the beginnings and ends, of any two words in single Washington Post story or ad published March 21 to April 1 into a new word or two-word phrase, and define the result.	WAS WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 29, 2014	1078	Hyphen the Terrible	Combine one side of any hyphenated word or compound term with one side of another word to make a new hyphenated term, and define it humorously. Both halves must appear in the same issue of The Post or another print newspaper, or in writing published the same day on washingtonpost.com or another online publication. (Conversational text)	HYP WAS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 1, 2015	1109	Fictoids of Columbia	Tell us some humorously untrue “facts” about Washington, D.C., and the surrounding area. (Conversational text)	WAS TRI	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 13, 2022	1475	Hail to the Commanders!	Write a song (set to any familiar tune) or shouted cheer for the Washington Commanders. OR: Write for any other D.C. institution, e.g., the Metro, the Senate, the National Zoo, The Washington Post. (Conversational text)	MUS POE WAS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Jeff Shirley	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
YEAR 31 BEGINS