ROBERT BENCHLEY SOCIETY AWARD FOR HUMOR
OFFICIAL RULES AND DEADLINES FOR 2011
Mark Russell, As Finalist Judge
The Robert Benchley Society is proud to welcome
national humorist and entertainer Mark Russell who has agreed to
serve as finalist judge for our 2011 Robert Benchley Society Award
For Humor Writing competition.
Mark
Russell's topical and political humor and music parodies, have
pleased us all for more than three decades in personal performances,
television shows, and radio broadcasts. Mark Russell's own
website is at www.markrussell.net.
In 2011 Russell will take some time away
from his piano to read and rank the top entries by writers in this
year's Robert Benchley Society Award For Humor competition.
1. Entry Requirement
Entries must be:
- Your Original Work;
- Benchleyesque (in the sense of reflecting Benchley's style and humor);
- Not more than 500 words in length;
- In the English language;
- Accompanied by an entry fee of $10; and
- Submitted by e-mail, on or before MAY 1, 2011, according to THE ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION PROCEDURE (see item 3 below).
Entries are limited to one per person.
Submission of an entry to this competition grants
the Robert Benchley Society permission to publish the entry on the
Society's websites, blogs, and online communications. All other
rights are retained by the author.
2009 Winner - Ed
Tasca
2006 Winner - W. Bruce
Cameron
2. Judging RulesAll
judging will be done in accordance with WBC rules:
- There is no standing 8 count and no 3 knockdown rule;
- Fighter can be saved by the bell in the last round only;
- A 10 point must system is in effect;
- Accidental head butt goes to the scorecard after the fourth round.
- None of the above;
Officers and family members of officers of the National RBS, and judges are excluded;
Preliminary and Finalist judges will select and or
rank entries based on their determination of each essay's reflection of
Robert Benchley's style and humor;
The top four finalist entries will be ranked 1st,
2nd, 3rd and 4th by our finalist judge, MARK RUSSELL.
Winners will be announced September, 2011, by
the Robert Benchley Society. 
2006 and 2007 Finalist Judge Dave Barry
With Ridley Pearson and 2005
Winner Horace J. Digby
3. Required Electronic Submission
Procedure
Entries must be accompanied by $10 entry fee,
payable through PayPal. Your entry fee will be used to cover the
costs associated with the competition, including a nice plaque for the
winner and perhaps other insignificant prizes.
Essays must be in MS Word or HTML format
attached to an e-mail message. Essays shall contain
no identifying information (i.e. name, address, etc).
Your name, address, and phone number must be in the body of your e-mail
message.
To enter, go to the Robert Benchley Society
official website link below. When you get to the Robert Benchley
site, click on the PayPal "Buy Now" button located there.
After making your payment you will be automatically redirected to a page
from which you may submit your entry.
2008 finalist judge
Bob Newhart
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May 1, 2011 |
YOUR ENTRY DEADLINE |
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May 15 - June 15, 2011
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BENCHLEY SOCIETY JUDGING PANEL REVIEWS ALL ENTRIES, SELECTING TEN FINALISTS |
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June 20 - July 20, 2011
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MARK RUSSELL SELECTS AND RANKS TOP FOUR ENTRIES |
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September, 2011
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ROBERT
BENCHLEY SOCIETY ANNOUNCES WINNERS.
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2011 Judging Schedule
MORE ABOUT THE ROBERT BENCHLEY SOCIETY AWARD FOR HUMOR
 Dave Barry
Names Daniel Montville Winner of the 2007 Robert Benchley Society
Award for Humor
Miami, Florida -Pulitzer Prize winning
humorist, Dave Barry has named Daniel Montville ofOak Park,
Illinois, first place winner of the 2007 Robert Benchley Society Award for
Humor for his essay "How to Write a Book."
Barry called Montville's essay,"A
smart, silly essay written in the classic Benchley how-to
style. The opening sentence establishes the confidently insane
tone: 'There couldn't be a better time for you to write a book because
nobody reads any more (I certainly don't).'"
Upon receiving news of his win,
Montville wrote, "I am the 2007 winner of the Robert Benchley Society
Humor Writing Competition.. . . It's really a classy looking
plaque, and it now occupies a prominent spot on our mantle, right next to
my Smokey The Bear Junior Fire Ranger Certificate I received in
1957."
Barry gave second place honors to George
Waters, of Pasadena California, for "T'ai Chi for Beginners" or
"War and Peace." Pointing out that Waters' essay had an
excellent opening sentence, Barry summarized the essay's impact on
him. "I personally have never tried T'ai Chi, but after reading
Waters' relentlessly uninformative take on the subject, I've decided that
I don't want to," Barry said.
Ed Tasca of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, took
third place with "Hello again, Mr. Uh--!?."
Dave Barry said, "Tasca hilariously
explores, in Benchley style, the problem of being unable to remember
anything, including the mnemonics that you're supposed to remember to help
you remember things, which you tend to forget (I refer here to the
mnemonics) (I think)."
Jennifer Byrne, of Glassboro, New Jersey
took fourth place for her essay, "You Shouldn't Have
(Really)." "I have long been puzzled by the fact that
cat owners tolerate a pet that keeps bringing them gifts of dead animals
and animal parts. Finally, Byrne has provided an answer: cat owners are insane," Barry said.
Against all odds Byrne and Tasca were also
both top finalists in 2006 and Tasca has finished in the top four during
each of the past three years.
The 2006 first place winner W. Bruce
Cameron, of SantaMonica, California, an
internationally syndicated humor columnist for the Rocky Mountain News
is also the bestselling author ofEight Simple Rules For
Dating My Teenage Daughter, which inspired the ABC/Disney John Ritter
situation comedy by the same name.
"Working with Dave Barry and the other
judges has been a real treat for all of us, and we are all looking forward
to having Bob Newhart join us as finalist Judge for 2008," said Horace J.
Digby. Digby, who won the Robert Benchley Society Award for Humor in
2005has been invited backas a preliminary judge for the
event." Judges face a real challenge every year," Digby
said. "We read all of the entries 'blind,' meaning none of
us knows who wrote any particular essay. This makes
thecompetition entirely merit based," Digby said.
 In
addition to Barry and Digby, the 2007 judges included: Gordon E. Ernst,
author of Robert Benchley An Annotated Bibliography; Kevin
Fitzpatrick, Chairperson of the
Dorothy Parker Society of New York, and author of A Journey into
Dorothy Parker's New York; MIT genius, Steven Jens; gifted writer and
Renaissance woman, Eileen Forster Keck; Robert Benchley Society
officers David and Sharon Lyon; celebrated puzzle designer, Chris
Morgan; Tom Saunders, an on-air radio personality for the A3 Radio
Network out of Ann Arbor, Michigan;and Robert Benchley Society
chairman, David Trumbull. "Other 2007 finalists were: Diana Grove of
New Orleans, Louisiana for 'A Perfectly Acceptable Pet;' Brenda
Pontiff of Los Angeles, California for'A Warning Concerning
Self-Help Propaganda;' Mary Lyn Eagle, aka Marie Hawk, of Oroville,
Washington for 'Step by Step Instructions for Surviving a Computer
Melt Down;' John Parnell of Macon, Georgia for 'I Stared
at M Executive Editor's E-mail to Me . . .' David Carlyon of
Larchmont, New York for 'The Next Robert Benchley;' and Anthony
Martinetti of Pawtucket, Rhode Island for 'While Reading
THERAVEN on Wikipedia.'"
Dave
Barry gave his "congratulations to all of the finalists for their fine and
funny work. It wasn't easy to narrow it down . . ."
The Robert Benchley Society Award for Humor
is given each year to honor the memory and work of that great American
humorist. As a member of the famous Algonquin Round Table,
Benchley built a new foundation for American humor during the
1920s, 30s and 40s, writing for The New Yorker, Vanity
Fair, the Hearst newspapers, and other publications. He
also established a successful film career. Benchley is revered
by serious students of humor. Ironically, Dave Barry
has often said he always wanted to write like Robert Benchley,
but today, the easiest way to describe Benchley, is to tell people he
was the Dave Barry of his day, either that, or tell them he was Peter
Benchley's grandfather.
"Writers and entertainers like Woody Allen,
Steve Martin, Bob Newhart, Dave Barry, Jonathan Winters, Richard
Pryor, Steve Allen, Shelly Berman,Russell Baker, Calvin Trillin,Ed Tasca, Dan Burt, Christopher Perdue,
W. Bruce Cameron, andI eagerly acknowledge a great debt to Robert
Benchley's innovative work," Digby said.
Traditionally Robert Benchley Society Award
winners give an acceptance speech. In 2006 W. Bruce Cameron said he
was delighted over his victory, and wanted to thank Dave Barry, the Robert
Benchley Society, the U.S. Constitution, his automobile lease, the
soundtrack from the movie Serpico, sunblock and others." "I couldn't
have done it without them!" Cameron
said.Prior to winning the Benchley,
Cameron had already distinguished himself. In addition to writing
Eight Simple Rules, which inspired the Emmy Award
winning Disney/ABC television series staring the late John Ritter,
Cameron's book, How to Remodel a Man, was also a best seller, and
he had just completed his first feature length movie, Cook Off,
whichhe wrote and helped produce. A frequent guest on Good
Morning America, the CBS Early Show, The Anderson Cooper
Show, Oprah, CNN, Fox News, Cameron's
articles have appeared in Time magazine, O, the Oprah
magazine and many other publications. "I also write for my
homeowners Association Newsletter," Cameron said.
"It was a pleasure to see so many fine, funny writers emulating the Great
One," Barry said. "I'm sure if Bob Benchley were alive today, he'd
say, 'Whoa! I am 117 years old!' But I'm also sure he would be
pleased, with, and impressed by, these entries," Barry said.
Dave Barry spoke for all of us in his letter
congratulating the 2007 Robert Benchley Society Award for Humor winners
when he wrote, "Again, thanks for letting me be part of keeping the
Benchley tradition alive."
Take a moment for a good laugh and check out
robertbenchley.org. You will findwining and finalist entries
for the past two years.
Copyright(c) 2011 Lexington Film, LLC.
All Rights Reserved. |
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Bob
NewhartNames Mad Kane Winner 2008 Robert Benchley Society
Award for Humor
LOS ANGELES, CA.
-- Bob Newhart, perhaps the most celebrated
comedian-humorist-actor-author-former accountant in show-business history,
author of the new show business autobiography "I Shouldn't Even Be
Doing This," taking time out from his busy schedule to serve as finals
judge, namedpast NSNC honoree Madeleine Begun Kane, winner of the
2008 Robert Benchley Society Award for Humor.
In a hand-written note Newhart told Kane, "I don't
know if Robert Benchley ever commented on operas in his writings, but it
is certainly a subject I suspect he would have handled exactly as you
did."
Newhart, in an earlier interview for A3Radio out of Ann Arbor, Michigan, past
Benchley Society award winner Horace J. Digby that he had always
considered Benchley a major influence for his own humor. "Really
good writing is timeless," Newhart said. "Benchley
created like the persona Jack Benny created
a man who was very much full of himself, but in a
self-deprecating way." The interview is online at: lexingtonfilm.com/newhartinterview.htm.
"There is no question in my mind," Newhart said in
a follow-up note to Digby, "that Benchley helped construct the comedic
lens through which I view the world. I think his [Benchley's]
influence is certainly discernable in 'Abe Lincoln' and 'King
Kong.'"
On learning Newhart had ranked her essay first,
Kane was uncharacteristically at a loss for words, saying only,
"Yikes! I can't believe it! Thanks! . . . I'm still in
shock . . ." Then, composing herself,Kane said, "Now that I've
actually won I'm thrilled and honored, but being Jewish, I'm still
anxious," eluding to the limerick she had written to celebrate being
named a finalist:
"I can barely maintain my sobriety Cuz the great Robert Benchley
Society Held a contest and wow, I'm a finalist
now. Will I win the top prize? High anxiety!"
 Kane's
essays have appeared in Family Circle, America Online, Newsday, The
Chicago Tribune, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Miami Herald, The Houston
Chronicle, The New York Times, The L. A. Times Syndicate,
Knight-Rider/Tribune News Service, and on National Public Radio. She
bills herself, as "Mad" Kane, political satirist, parodist and recovering
lawyer. In 1995 Kane's humor was honored by the National Society of
Newspaper Columnists. Her website, madkane.com, has received
accolades from USA Today, Shift Magazine, Maxim Magazine, The Guardian and
other media.
For 2008 Newhart
also named 3 Benchley Society Medalists: Mike Tuck of Hopkins, MN,
Jesse Levy of North Hollywood, CA, and Denise G. Weeks (aka Shalanna
Collins) of Richardson, TX,who were Kane's first, second
and third runners-up. All winning essays can be viewed at
robertbenchley.org/competition.
First runner-up,
Mike Tuckcaptured the tone of this year's competition.
"Knowing Bob Newhart actually read something I wrote (even if he barely
got through the first paragraph before crumpling and tossing it) is
intimidating. I have grown up with Newhart's albums, stand-up,
movies and television to understand and appreciate what a brilliant
humorist he is. This would be the highlight of my career if I had
one," Tuck said.
The Robert Benchley
Society Award for Humor competition is open to amateurs and professionals
alike.
"All entries are
read blind, so, in 2008, neither Bob Newhart, nor any of the preliminary
judges knew who wrote any of the essays. This makes the competition
entirely merit based," said Horace J. Digby, 2005 Robert
Benchley Society Award for Humor first-place winner. Digby enjoyed the
competition so much, he has returned for the past three years to help with
judging and to work with celebrity judges like Dave Barry andBob
Newhart.
Past competitors
and winners have included amature and fledgling writers right along side
of some of our nation's top humor writers, like 2006 first-place winner W.
Bruce Cameron, internationally-syndicated best-selling author of Eight
Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter, inspiration for the John
Ritter, ABC/Disney Emmy Award winning television series by the same
name. Cameron'snewest book, Eight Simple Rules for
Marrying My Daughter,has already become a motion picture
project, when rights for Cameron's sequel were acquired by 26 Films
production company (principals are Michelle Chydzik Sowa and Nathalie
Marciano), as a new project for producer Wendy Finerman (The Devil
Wears Prada).
About the Robert Benchley Society Award for Humor
FEBRUARY 23, 2006, BOSTON -- Dave Barry, Pulitzer Prize winning humorist, author of
the New York Times best seller Dave Barry's Money
Secrets, and life-long fan of Robert Benchley, has agreed to judge
finalist entries in the 2006 Robert Benchley Society Award for Humor
competition sponsored by the Robert Benchley Society.
"We're looking for the next
Robert Benchley," said David Trumbull, chairman of the Robert Benchley
Society," and Dave Barry, America's leading Humorist, has agreed to
help, thanks to the efforts of our 2005 Humor Award winner, Horace J.
Digby."
"If you have a funny bone and
can write, you can be a part of it. All you have to do is write
a short original article (500 words or less) in the style of Robert
Benchley and send it to the Robert Benchley Society no later than April
15th. We and Dave Barry will do the rest," Trumbull said.
The Robert Benchley Society, a
not-for-profit organization, was founded in Boston, Massachusetts, in
2003. It has since grown to include members in several
countries. Information about the Society may be found at www.robertbenchley.org.
Robert Benchley (Grandfather of Peter Benchley who wrote Jaws) rose
to fame as a leading humorist in the 1920s writing for Harvard
Lampoon, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, where he shared
an office with Dorothy Parker, Life magazine, and as a humor
columnist for the Hearst Newspapers. Benchley was also notorious as
a member of the Algonquin Round Table. Today's leading humorists,
including Dave Barry, Woody Allen, Bob Newhart, Russell Baker, and Steve
Martin, gratefully acknowledge Robert Benchley's influence on
their work. www.natbenchley.com www.answers.com/topic/robert-benchley
"It is easy to find
quotations by Barry extolling Benchley as his humor hero.
"Robert Benchley is my idol," Barry told The
Writer Magazine. "I've been reading him since I was a kid, and
still return to his essays regularly for inspiration." www.writermag.com/wrt/default.aspx?c=a&id=850
In an interview for Time
Magazine, Barry told Jeff Chu that besides his mother, the biggest
influence by faron his humor was Robert Benchley. "I always
wanted to write like him . . ." Barry said.iaisnd.com/archivednews.cfm?id=533
In a review of Nathaniel Benchley's book,
The Benchley Round Up, Barry said, "My favorite book is any
collection of the columns of the great Robert Benchley. My dad had a
bunch of Benchley books around the house when I was a boy, and I read them
voraciously - that's when I realized I wanted to be a humor
writer." www.readersclub.org/reviews/tresults.asp?id=2353
Barry'sown website, www.davebarry.com/faq_for_students.html ranks the influences on the Dave Barry style of
humor in the following order: 1) his parents, especially
his mom; 2) Robert Benchley; and 3) Mad
Magazine.
The Annenberg Media Foundation
quotes Barry as saying,"The guy who made me laugh the most of
all is dead. Is Robert Benchley. I always wanted to be like
Robert Benchley. Um, not in the sense of being dead.
I'd like to be Robert Benchley, but not dead."
www.learner.org/catalog/extras/interviews/dbarry/db02.html
Horace J. Digby, winner of the
2005 Robert Benchley Society Award for Humor, found his first Benchley book in his parents
attic. "I was eight
years old, pretending to be too sick to go to school. I never knew
adults wrote books like that. It was love at first sight. I
read it over and over.That's when I knew I wanted to be
a humor writer when I grew up . . . just like Robert Benchley," Digby said.
While Dave Barry and Horace J.
Digby both spent their lives wanting to be like Benchley, it seems that
for many today, Robert Benchley is considered "The Dave Barry of his day." www.answers.com/topic/robert-benchley
Here is how Mike Gerber,
a Robert Benchley fan and best selling author of Barry Trotter and the
Shameless Parody, put it. "Benchley's stylistic influence has
probably been greater than any other American humorist . . .
Benchley-esque offhandedness is almost a prerequisite of writing humor in
American English. He's the Dave Barry of a more literate and thoughtful era."
www.mikegerber.com/CoreCollection.html
For more information about
Robert Benchley and how you can win the 2006 Robert Benchley Society Award for Humor, go to
www.robertbenchley.orgor lexingtonfilm.com/barrytojudge.htm.
Copyright © 2006 Lexington Film, LLC. All Rights Reserved. |
Copyright© 2008 Lexington Film,
LLC. All Rights Reserved.
