‘The Streak’ Caption Contest winners 2024
Hello Everyone,
My heartfelt thanks to all those who entered the 2024 Caption Contest. It was a lot of fun reading your delightful captions. This year’s contest involving cows in an art gallery contemplating a painting of a steak elicited many varied captions, and as with previous contests, the response was brilliant. There were almost 500 entries from 12 countries.
This response once again shows that comic strips are a community-minded art form and Streak readers are extremely loyal, engaging and very talented.
The judges here at Streak HQ always find it challenging to decide on a winner. There are many honourable mentions that could easily have taken out the top prize.
We know humour is subjective and what one person finds funny can fall flat with others. With such a large volume of entries to sift through, the odds are against you. If any of you feel hard done by, it just may be that your caption was not unique or not suitable for family newspapers …
The judging panel consisted of respected colleagues and friends whose critical judgement I trust and admire, including my comics editor, sub-editors, cartoonists, comedians and teachers, to name a few. We were looking for something unique, surprising or out of left field, with perfectly crafted wording that fitted the cartoon’s setting.
I trust you’ll agree that these finalists are all worthy!
And now … the envelope please …
SHRRRRRRRRRRIP!
The winner of the 2024 Caption Contest is …
JOHN KONNO from Tokyo, JAPAN
Four of the seven judges had this caption in their top three, and two judges had it as their favourite. It’s subtle, understated and we love how the comment highlights the uncomfortable truth of its own mortality and the fate of some of its kind.
This caption solves the situation and suits the drawing perfectly. You believe this to be the kind of conversation overheard at a gallery. A nice approach from John.
John told me he is a seasoned captioneer, regularly entering The New Yorker’s and CartoonStock’s caption contests. In fact, he also won the CartoonStock contest the same week as this one. I would argue this has way more prestige …
John wins a signed, original artwork, a limited-edition signed art print, a personally inscribed Striving for Quantity book, a $50AUD Amazon voucher, 10 greeting cards, 5 Streak stickers and a packet of my favourite biscuits that I like to have with my morning coffee.
In addition, John’s winning caption will appear as a daily ‘Streak’ in newspapers.
Well deserved, John!
Now, for those interested, my caption for this cartoon is below … but after writing this, decided the drawing would be well suited for the contest. You can decide if this was the right choice.
My caption:
“The models during the renaissance had it tough.”
Here are the 2024 honourable mentions, in no particular order. They each receive a signed limited-edition Streak print, a greeting card and a sticker.
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“They liked them fattier back then.”
Kristina Bradley, Ontario, Canada
“That’s Uncle Angus, taken just after he’d won ‘Best in Class’ at the County Show.””
Tony Clark, Leicester, UK
“Of course, it’s been heavily airbrushed, at least 3 layers of gristle.”
Frank Cattani, Kent, UK
“Tasteless”
Rob Needham, Michigan, USA
“Seeing Lady Gaga’s underwear really isn’t why I came to the gallery.”
Eliz Wilson, Brisbane, Australia
“Ooo, is that Diane?”
Michael Clarke, Devon, UK
“I prefer Andy Warhol’s paintings of tomato soup cans.”
Russell Starr, Adelaide, Australia
“I’d hate to go that way … unaccompanied!”
Angelo Zorbas, Canberra, Australia
“Offal … absolutely offal.”
Coner Carew, Waterford, Ireland
“Well, Dad didn’t want his transplant to go to waste.”
Rob Falconer, Llandough, Wales, UK
“This makes a change; our relatives are usually only found hanging in butcher shops.”
Ken Wilkinson, Hull, England, UK
“This makes me sick to my stomachs.”
and
“I prefer soothing pastoral scenes.”
Tyler Bradley, Ontario, Canada
“I’d pour blood over it in protest, but I think that would add to it.”
Kyal Shepard, Adelaide, Australia
“She foresaw her own death and now we’ll always remember her as a medium.”
Simon Paul Miller, Warwickshire, UK (2021 winner)
“It reminds me of this one time I woke up in a hotel bathtub full of ice cubes.”
and
“Should we praise the artist or compliment the chef?”
Ron Gray, Darwin, Australia (2018 winner)
“I could make that.”
Atticus Wisteard, Ontario, Canada
“You can see such tenderness in his work.”
Ron Kendal, Manchester, UK (2023 winner)
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I honestly loved reading all the entries and I look forward to another contest in October 2025.
Until we speak again, best regards and wishing you many more guffaws!
Tony Lopes