Be Stoked If The New Yorker Edits Your Caption
“Print Isn’t DEAD.” T-shirt by American Bystander
If The New Yorker edits your caption, it’s a small concession for seeing your name in print in a magazine founded in 1925 and one of America’s longest-running continuously published magazines.
And, as a Finalist you’ve certainly beat the odds.
The New Yorker has their own style with a very interesting history.
There’s a myriad of TNY edits: contestants may find their hypens are removed (Contest #759, “They call it kitsch and release.”, 1st place), February is replaced with March (Contest #886, “It’s still March on this side of the room.”, Third place), or their comma is replaced by an em dash (waaayy too many captions to list.)
Here’s a HumorOrama Almanac chart showing the number of em dash and several other common edits in Contests #510 - #895.)
While wrangling, munging, and analyzing contest datasets, I often find interesting things. I noticed that the very first cartoon in the very first issue of The New Yorker was this cartoon by Al Frueh—notably, with a caption lacking a diaeresis.
The diaeresis is my favorite New Yorker house-style feature. I love it. It’s great-looking and difficult to type.
In Contest #912, the contestant entered: pre-existing and TNY edited it.
Evidently, it’s a well-documented edit and fully explained by Mary Norris, April 26,2012, in this TNY article:
The Curse of the Diaeresis
This article, by Ben Yagoda, September 22, 2025, provides excellent background on The New Yorker’s style and it’s most famous style choice.
The Autocrat of English Usage
Also, here is a recent article on house style by TNY’s Head of Copy, Andrew Boynton, March 10,2025:
The New Yorker House Style Joins the Internet Age
It’s your ‘judgement’ or ‘judgment’ on what style you use in your captions. But, why not write it the way the house likes it?!
You can search for caption punctuation in HumorOramaLOL.
HumorOrama Hut 8 Search Caption Tool
If The New Yorker edits your caption, it’s a small concession for seeing your name in print in a magazine founded in 1925 and one of America’s longest-running continuously published magazines.
And, as a Finalist you’ve certainly beat the odds.
The New Yorker has their own style with a very interesting history.
There’s a myriad of TNY edits: contestants may find their hypens are removed (Contest #759, “They call it kitsch and release.”, 1st place), February is replaced with March (Contest #886, “It’s still March on this side of the room.”, Third place), or their comma is replaced by an em dash (waaayy too many captions to list.)
Here’s a HumorOrama Almanac chart showing the number of em dash and several other common edits in Contests #510 - #895.)
While wrangling, munging, and analyzing contest datasets, I often find interesting things. I noticed that the very first cartoon in the very first issue of The New Yorker was this cartoon by Al Frueh—notably, with a caption lacking a diaeresis.
The diaeresis is my favorite New Yorker house-style feature. I love it. It’s great-looking and difficult to type.
In Contest #912, the contestant entered: pre-existing and TNY edited it.
Evidently, it’s a well-documented edit and fully explained by Mary Norris, April 26,2012, in this TNY article:
The Curse of the Diaeresis
This article, by Ben Yagoda, September 22, 2025, provides excellent background on The New Yorker’s style and it’s most famous style choice.
The Autocrat of English Usage
Also, here is a recent article on house style by TNY’s Head of Copy, Andrew Boynton, March 10,2025:
The New Yorker House Style Joins the Internet Age
It’s your ‘judgement’ or ‘judgment’ on what style you use in your captions. But, why not write it the way the house likes it?!
You can search for caption punctuation in HumorOramaLOL.
HumorOrama Hut 8 Search Caption Tool