The Almanac is a curated collection of data-backed reference content spanning caption contests, the contestants who enter them, and the cartoonists who draw for them. Unlike editorial content or one-time analyses, every report here is a living document — drawn from datasets that update on a regular schedule as contests run, results are published, and new finalists emerge.

The foundation is deep. The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest alone accounts for over two decades of competition, more than 2,600 unique finalists, and millions of submitted captions. But The Almanac reaches beyond any single contest, tracking patterns and people across the caption contest landscape.

Whether you're curious about the contest itself, the competitors who keep showing up, or the cartoons that inspired it all, The Almanac puts the numbers in front of you — and keeps them current.

BLUF: There’s no bloody humour code to crack; therefore, it can’t be cracked—extraordinarily annoying, but there it is.

Mind you, one must remember that the codebreakers at Bletchley Park were once told that Enigma was mathematically unbreakable, which rather worked out differently for the U-boats, didn't it? While we aren't exactly running a Bombe machine to decipher a punchline, we do believe that a bit of statistical rigour and a stiff upper lip can reveal the underlying architecture of a "winning" caption. It's worth a good go.

If one were to apply the logic of Alan Turing to the modern cartoon, one might find that humour—much like a rotor-based cipher—operates on a series of predictable, if somewhat eccentric, patterns. We’ve spent an exhaustive amount of time wrangling, munging, and generally bothering data at the very centre of this operation to bring you these tools. We hope you have a jolly good time fiddling with them as part of our broader research programme. It’s a bit of a smorgasbord, really, though we’ve been told "smattering" is more modest.

We hope these tools, analytical reports, and graph-theory-based analyses will prove helpful in achieving your humour goals—or at the very least, ensure you give it a proper go without looking entirely lost. Whether you’re analyzing the distribution of The New Yorker Finalists or trying to find a connection in the Finalist Connector, remember: data speaks the truth, even when the joke is on you.

It isn't quite the Enigma, but it's nonetheless a puzzle worth a bit of one's afternoon. And, the tools themselves are rather whizzo, I hasten to add.

When one's grey matter needs a proper rest, Monty Don on the iPad and a turn about the garden sorts things out rather nicely—works for us, the garden's a work in progress, but Monty doesn't know that.

Caption contests, much like crossword puzzles or word‑play challenges, offer a uniquely stimulating blend of creativity, humor, and quick thinking. They invite you to look at a single image and conjure a line that transforms the scene—sometimes with wit, sometimes with absurdity, and often with a surprising twist that makes the whole thing click. Rewards vary widely across contests: some offer the thrill of seeing your name printed in a prestigious magazine, while others provide generous cash prizes, artist‑signed prints, mugs, T‑shirts, conference passes, or simply the personal satisfaction of crafting the funniest, cleverest, wittiest, or most unexpected caption in the room. For many participants, the real prize is the internal spark that comes from knowing you captured the moment with just the right words.

Caption contests vary widely in tone, and the kinds of captions that win often depend on the personality of the publication hosting the contest. Some outlets, like CartoonStock, embrace more playful or edgy submissions — captions with a bit more innuendo, looseness, or creative risk. Others, such as The New Yorker Caption Contest, lean toward a more refined, understated style and avoid anything too risqué or heavy‑handed.

Quick caption-writing tip: The New Yorker follows a specific style guide, and while they may lightly edit winning entries, it’s smart to format your caption the way they prefer. For example, The New Yorker always prints “O.K.” — never OK, OKAY, or any other variation. Submitting in their house style helps your caption feel polished and contest‑ready from the start.

There’s an old saying that you can’t improve what you don’t measure, and humor is no exception. Leaderboards offer a fun, data‑driven way to see how caption writers and cartoonists stack up across contests, revealing patterns, streaks, surprises, and the occasional underdog surge. They turn what might otherwise be scattered results into something you can explore, compare, and revisit. Use the built‑in tools — pagination, column sorting, and the search box — to dig into the rankings and discover your own insights about the data.

In The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest, every Finalist has a location—and thus a flag. It's interesting how Finalists around the globe—because of humor—are connected through the Contest. Inspired by Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon—and for everyone who asked "When will I ever use this math?"—the Finalist Connector uses graph theory to make connections.

Nothing scientific here. Well, the code is kinda cool, but, yeah, maybe humor isn't the best compatibility check.

Perhaps a better check is if you like piña coladas and getting caught in the rain and you're not into yoga.

But, I'm guessing if you laugh together, you stay together.