The Yale Record Prize
The Yale Record Humor Contest is a writing and art competition for incoming Yale freshmen complete with cash prizes for the top submissions.
Categories
Lists: The word maximum in this category is 150. The premise of a list is that the writer picks a theme and jots down several examples of it. Feel free to be creative since you get to pick your theme. A list can be anything from “Titles of Thanksgiving Songs a Doomed Turkey Would Write” to “Things Which, While Not Killing You, Will Not Make You Stronger.” The winner of this category will receive $35 and the runner up will receive $15.
Cartoon: The maximum size for a cartoon is half of an 8.5 x 11 page (the 8.5 x 5.5 half) and should be in black and white only. Feel free to make entries smaller if you won’t need all that space to communicate your joke effectively. There is no particular topic we would like for cartoons, just as long as they are funny. They can be political, historical, topical, or just about anything else-ical. The winner of this category will receive $75 and the runner up will receive $25.
Shorts: The word maximum in this category is 500. A short can be any freestanding piece in a format such as monologue, dialog, letter, point-counterpoint, guidebook, poem, parody, etc. The winner of this category will receive $75, the runner up will receive $50, and the third place contestant will receive $25.
Rules
Please do not exceed word/size limits! They are there for a reason.
Contestants may submit only one piece so pick your category carefully. The Contest is exclusively for members of the class of 2014. All work must be your own, however you may feel free to have a friend edit your work. Please do not use any color in your submission because the inside of the magazine is primarily black and white.
All submissions are due on Friday, September 17. Submissions may be sent in before that date. Contestants will be alerted if they are chosen as finalists as soon as possible after that date. All finalists will have an honorable mention in the magazine. Prize winning pieces will be edited and sent back to writers for further drafts with the goal that they be published at some point during the year.
We will not have time to edit submissions before September 17, but if you have any questions concerning rules of the Contest, send them to recordprize@gmail.com.
All submissions should be sent to recordprize@gmail.com as attachments. All submissions should be saved with the filename “Category.Firstname.Lastname” (for instance, List.Jordy.Greenblatt or Short.Melissa.Chiasson or Cartoon.Paul.Robalino). Put the name of the piece at the top of the page. Please save all text files either as .doc, .docx, or .pdf and save all cartoons as .pdf. Since we will respond to you at the email from which we receive your submission, please only send from an email you will check.
For more insight into the kinds of pieces we publish,poke around the site.
We are all very excited to see what the Class of ’14 can do. Good luck!
Sample List One – Some of Jay-Z’s 99 Problems
Sample List Two – Weird Emoticons and Their Meanings
Sample List Three – Confusing Epitaphs
Sample Short One – Diary of a Starving Pickup Artist
Sample Short Two – Why Being Pharaoh is Better Than Being President