In HumorOramaLOL, TNYCCC ¹ Leaderboard’s default ordering is ‘Larry David–style’: strictly merit-based—no reinterpretations, just total wins, with most recent win as tiebreaker.

A “win” is defined as winning the Contest ². Second and third-place finishes count as Finalist Appearances. Additionally, a new column tallies 1st-place (3 points) and 2nd-place (2 points) Finalist results into a total score. The default ordering highlights ultimate Contest success and gives credit where it’s due. ³

By contrast, for Finalist Appearances and Finalist Rank, ties are broken by the most recent contest in which the contestant placed—recency still counts.

Beep, beep, beep

Let's back up a bit. I see the phone bank lighting up. Yes, you can still view and sort on the number of Finalist Appearances and the Placements column shows all of the contestant's Contest success. You can also search for your favorite contestant.

Granted, being selected as a Finalist could be considered a “win” in itself, given that only three finalists are chosen from what has historically been approximately five to fifteen thousand ⁴ submissions each week. Those are great odds to overcome. It's a thrill to be a Finalist. Full stop.

However…there's a bit more validation, after the vote, for second place and even more if you win. Plus, if you have won the Contest, as of Contest #984, you are 1 of 924 contestants, world-wide ⁵. (Fancy a guess at which state has the most TNYCCC winners?)

If you become a Finalist, your next dinner party challenge is finding a way to casually mention it—and rally votes for your caption.

Opaque vs Transparent

Let's start with an opinion framed as a general truth: humor is subjective.

That general truth could explain The New Yorker's Finalists selection each week. And, we live with it.

But, what is the process for selection? Do they send the captions to WOPR and it spits out three? Or, is the selection quietly calibrated to the cartoon department’s social media sensibilities? It’s TNY—mysterious, and it’s their contest.

There is an online caption rating process. What are the results? As of Contest #896; we no longer know. In the past we had an abundance of data thanks to the fantastic data scientist team led by Dr. Robert Nowak. You could find your caption rating and even your Mean and Precision ⁶; data heaven!

Sometimes Finalists are notified as early as Tuesday and as late as Friday. So, does online rating have a role in Finalist selection? WordsBelow analysis showed that it did.

Now, when it comes to whether or not the C4 (Cartoon Caption Contest Community—not Command, Control, Communications, and Computers; my alter ego) thought your caption is funny—we're all Sergeant Schultz: “I know nothing!” ⁷

Finally, TNYCCC is one of many moving parts of TNY. The cartoon editor has a busy week filled with deadlines. See recent interview with TNY cartoon editor here: TNY Cartoon Editor Interview Article

Best Deal in Town ⁸

The CartoonStock caption contest is judged by four cartoon professionals and the artist. Each provide their top ten captions and even the top ten captions rated by the C4 is shared. The judging panel is chaired by former TNY cartoon editor and TNYCCC creator Bob Mankoff, President of CartoonStock. The rest of the panel is: Lawrence Wood, the all-time winningest TNYCCC contestant and cartoonists Trevor Hoey and Joel Mishon. We can view the judging video—not just listen to audio—of the panelists exposing caption weaknesses and praising unique and unexpected captions. Along the way, we also get a sense of each panelist’s humor.

Another benefit of the judging video is it's a true learning experience for the caption enthusiast. The judges explain their choices and give advice for caption construction.

The grand prize winner receives $500. Five additional winners—selected as runners-up in no particular order—each receive $100. UPDATE: as of May 1, 2026, the award structure is a shared pool. Grand prize receives half the cash pool and five runner-ups split the remaining fifty percent of the cash pool. Additionally, CartoonStock is allowing purchasing additional entries at $3 per entry.

As of this writing the CartoonStock caption contest has under two hundred contestants. With three captions for five bucks fee, that's less than six hundred captions per contest. And, you have a chance of winning $700. That's right. All you have to do is win the contest and have two runner-ups. Several contestants have come close.
View LEADERBOARDS - CartoonStock Caption Contest Superstars.

Bottomline: In the CartoonStock caption contest every caption was at least considered and if you are selected, you'll know why.

You get a car! You get a car! You get a car! ⁹

As a Finalist in TNYCCC you don't get a cash prize, or a signed cartoon print anymore ¹⁰, but you do get your name in print ¹¹ in The New Yorker. And, if you win, you're in two TNY issues.

So if you’re a winner, a finalist, or a runner-up—that’s pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good. ¹²

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¹ Participation Awards Aren't For Adults. TNYCCC participation age is thirteen. 13+ year olds—you’re now adulting.

² Lawrence Wood, with eight wins, is the undisputed TNYCCC GOAT.

³ Who’s the greatest basketball player or football quarterback? Count their championships. (For non-sports folks: this is the best way to start an argument in a sports bar.)

⁴ Crowdsourced datasets available from Contest #510 - #895. Contest #716 had the most entries: 15,329! Congratulations to those Finalists. Contest #835 had the least entries; 1066. And, congratulations to those Finalists too. The Cartoon Caption Contest Community quickly identified an anomaly occurred: “What happened to my caption?” when their caption was not in the crowdsourced dataset.

⁵There are eighteen countries represented in TNYCCC
Australia
Canada
England
France
Germany
Indonesia
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Japan
Malaysia
New Zealand
Peru
Portugal
Scotland
Sweden
Switzerland
Wales

⁶ The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest Dataset

⁷ Sergeant Schultz: "I know nothing."

⁸ I know, 🤫. A surfer never divulges a secret spot.

⁹ Oprah Winfrey: You get a car!

¹⁰ Contest #522—magazine debut 5/16/2016—was the last time, "The winner receives a signed print of the cartoon." was offered.

¹¹ Attempted Bloggery's name in print.

¹² Larry David: "Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good."