Western North Carolina is full of artists, writers, and creative minds 鈥� and, as it turns out, at least one New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest winner.
The recently celebrated its. The magazine is known for long-form reporting, fiction, poetry, reviews 鈥� and, of course, cartoons. One of its 鈥渘ewer traditions,鈥� started in 1998, invites readers to write the perfect caption for a cartoon. Thousands enter each week, but only a select few win.
When BPR asked listeners if anyone had ever won, an email came in: 鈥淢y husband did.鈥�
Asheville resident Elizabeth Roth shares the spotlight with her husband, Thomas, the creative mind behind the winning New Yorker caption.
That husband? Thomas Roth, an Asheville resident whose caption 鈥� about a pirate captain with a softer side 鈥� earned him a place in The New Yorker's pages in 2006.
Roth spent the early years of his career surrounded by stories 鈥� working in film, TV, and the music industry. He read scripts, promoted concerts, and worked behind the scenes in entertainment. But his most widely published line?
Just one sentence.
A Lifelong New Yorker Fan
Roth grew up flipping straight to the cartoons in The New Yorker.
"I loved the cartoons as a kid. We had The New Yorker in the house, and I鈥檇 always flip through just for the cartoons," Roth says.
"Years later, I noticed they had this contest in the back of the magazine."
How the Caption Contest Works
Every week, The New Yorker publishes a caption-less cartoon in the magazine and online, inviting readers to submit their best punchline.
With thousands of entries rolling in, the magazine鈥檚 editors narrow it down to three finalists. Those captions are published the following week, and then 鈥� in true democratic fashion 鈥� the public votes for their favorite.
The winning caption appears in the magazine, forever cementing its author in New Yorker cartoon history. It鈥檚 a competition that rewards wit, timing, and the ability to find the perfect twist 鈥� and, in Roth鈥檚 case, persistence.
On his first entry, he didn鈥檛 win.
Tried again. Still nothing.
On his third attempt 鈥� back in 2006, he got a phone call.
"They say, 鈥楾his is so-and-so from The New Yorker,鈥� and I鈥檓 thinking, 鈥極kay, someone鈥檚 playing a joke on me,鈥�" Roth recalls.
Naturally, he made them prove it.
"I tell them, 鈥楻ead the caption back to me.鈥� And they did. That鈥檚 when I realized 鈥� this is legit."
He was one of three finalists. Now, the public would decide.
A week later, the results were in.
The Cartoon: A Pirate鈥檚 Dilemma
The scene Roth captioned was classic New Yorker: a pirate ship, two sailors staring off into the sea, and their captain 鈥� who had made a rather significant branding decision.
Gone was the Jolly Roger skull-and-crossbones flag. In its place? A smiley face.
Roth鈥檚 winning caption?
"Aye, and he replaced walking the plank with time out."
It was a perfect fit. The timing, the tone, and 鈥� maybe most importantly鈥攖he subtext.
"We didn鈥檛 have kids yet, but my wife Elizabeth and I were thinking about it at the time," Roth says. "I guess that was on my mind."
Parenting, after all, has its own kind of high-stakes negotiations.
The Art of the Caption
Roth鈥檚 background in TV and film had taught him how to build a story with dialogue and scenes. But writing a caption? That meant tinkering with every word 鈥� until the right one finally landed.
"There was some pondering involved for sure," he says. "And also, the wordsmithing was, from the feedback I've gotten, critical. And then, all of a sudden, you get hit by the thunderbolt or whatever, and yeah, that was it."
He had cracked the formula. But did he keep submitting?
Not exactly.
"After I won, I was like, 鈥楾hat鈥檚 it. I retire.鈥� I climbed the mountain," he says.
Still, he hasn鈥檛 stopped watching from the sidelines.
"It's not the obvious," Roth advises for future contestants. "You got to try to come up with something that no one else obviously is going to come up with."
These days, Roth doesn鈥檛 submit captions but he still flips to the back of The New Yorker every week 鈥� just to see what makes the cut.
Because even when you retire from the game, you never really stop playing.
"I don't know if I mentioned 鈥� I got the cartoon caption contest game for Christmas one year, but nobody will play with me."
