Yes, Lowe-Downers--I am pleased to announce that after three grueling weeks of entering, choosing and voting, we have a Grand Prize Winner.

We had over 500 entries, and as many votes for the three finalists. It was neck-and-neck right up to the midnight deadline, when the winner finally emerged, bloodied but victorious. And he is...

John Mason, of Hollywood, FL, who pulled away with ten votes at the very end (nice job rounding up all your friends and family at the last minute there, John).

The contest cartoon, in case you haven't seen enough of it by now, is shown at right with John's winning caption. When I asked him what inspired his winning entry, he told me that, like so many of us, he'd had a rough 2009 and felt a lot like Father Time shuffling off to the right of the picture. He's hoping to make a fresh start this year.

Congratulations also to the other two finalists, Sandra Thompson ("Don't tell me that you need to be bailed out already.") and Jay Kullmann of Lighthouse Point, FL ("You must have just come through security at the airport!").

Mr. Mason's winning entry will be featured at a date yet to be determined on the Sun Sentinel's op-ed page, and all three finalists will receive official Lowe-Down t-shirts.

Congratulations to all who participated: the entrants, the finalists, the winner, and even the malcontents who groused endlessly about the final three choices.

Keep an eye out for the next contest, coming in a few months!

Today is the final day of voting for the Grand Prize Winner of the first 2010 Lowe-Down Cartoon Caption Contest.

Polls close at midnight tonight. We've already had an overwhelming response, and the top two contenders are running neck and neck.

Be a part of history! Vote today... just click on the link at the top of this blog.

Yes, breathless readers--we are now entering Phase II of our caption contest, the Vote of the People.

Entries kept pouring in until the last minute--over 500 of them. Our panel spent hours sifting through the diaper-related potty jokes, the endless variations on "change," and sundry submissions that made no sense whatsoever.

I deliberately left the drawing ambiguous, so that readers could decide for themselves whether they wanted the baby or President Obama to be the one doing the talking.

There was no small number that had to be deleted because they were unfit for public consumption; it seems that for some people, any image of Obama is like waving a red cape in front of a bull.

Anyway, here's what we came up with. I'd say vote early and often, but I think our software prevents you from voting more than once.

The poll will be up for one week, at which point we will announce the Grand Prize Winner. All three finalists receive an Official Lowe-Down T-shirt.

That's right, faithful readers...there's no better way to get things rolling in the new year than with a juicy cartoon caption contest. Forget Powerball--this is your opportunity to win official Lowe-Down t-shirts, fame, fortune, and--once again--the thanks of a grateful nation.

You veterans of these events know the drill: Come up with a caption (or captions) for the cartoon shown at right, and post your pearls of wisdom as comments to this blog entry, so that everybody can enjoy them. Enter as many times as you like, but make sure to use your real email address, or we won't be able to contact you in the event you're a winner.

ALSO, AND THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT: OUR BLOG SOFTWARE IS CRANKY, SO PLEASE BE PATIENT AFTER YOU HAVE CLICKED "SUBMIT," BECAUSE IT CAN OFTEN TAKE AS LONG AS HALF A MINUTE FOR YOU TO RECEIVE CONFIRMATION THAT YOUR ENTRY HAS BEEN ACCEPTED. Please DO NOT keep re-sending the same entry over and over.

We will keep the submission period for your captions open for two weeks, until Monday, January 18.

On that fateful day, the thousands of captions will be gathered and taken under consideration by a crack team of journalistic eminences grises, who will meet in conclave to choose the three most witty, captivating, and off-the-wall examples of the genre.

The three finalists will then be submitted to a Vote Of The People in the form of an online poll, which all will be allowed to enter. The Vote will take place over a one-week period.

At this point, a winner will be declared in The Lowe-Down and somewhere yet to be determined in the pages of the Sun Sentinel. All three finalists will receive an official Lowe-Down t-shirt, modeled here by one of my comely colleagues. The first-place winner will also snag a print of the cartoon with his or her caption attached, as well as a write-up in the op-ed page of the Sun Sentinel.

So, LET THE CONTEST BEGIN!!! And remember: please keep your entries clean.

Yes, after almost eight hundred submissions and even more votes cast, I'm pleased to announce that the Grand Prize Winner of the Official Lowe-Down 25th Anniversary Cartoon Caption Contest is Brenda West of Delray Beach, FL.

Brenda's offering garnered a plurality of forty-four percent of the total vote. Brenda not only wins an official blog t-shirt as a finalist, but a pair of movie passes that the theatre may or may not honor when she gets to the door. Or she can have the Morikami Gardens membership. Or both, unless one of the other finalists wants it.

The contest cartoon is displayed here with her winning caption.

The contest was not without controversy. The three finalists chosen by the elite panel of experienced journalists (Editorial Writer Gary Stein, Opinion Editor Antonio Fins and myself) were received with mixed feelings. In fact, there was derision from all quarters: "Is that the best you can do?" "Those choices suck!" "You're all showing your liberal bias!"

As for the last comment, we honestly tried to find at least one caption that both denigrated liberals and was really funny, but since conservatives generally view humor with suspicion, it seems they're just not that good at it.

All this goes to show that in this glorious tapestry we call America (Yecch...did I really write that?), you can't even have an innocuous cartoon caption contest without somebody getting his nose out of joint about it.

In an interesting postcript, some contestants simply refused to give up, and continued to submit more captions for days after the entry period had ended. Some helpfully suggested that theirs were better than the mediocrities we had chosen, and should be substituted for same. My readers are not the kind to take a deadline supinely.

In the final analysis, I applaud and thank all readers who got involved; whether it be those who made constructive contributions or those who just threw bombs.

Next time, maybe I'll just have the readers vote for the top three finalists from all the entries. I think I also speak for Stein and Fins when I say that we'd be more than happy to let you spend the long hours sifting through them.

NOTICE TO READERS: THE CAPTION SUBMISSION PERIOD HAS ENDED.

The response has been overwhelming--we've received approximately 780 submissions. Thank you for your enthusiasm!

STAY TUNED FOR THE READER POLL, WHERE YOU CAN REGISTER YOUR VOTE FOR THE GRAND PRIZE WINNER!

We will do our best to have the three finalists posted in the poll by Monday evening, April 27th, and you will have a week to choose your favorite.

Here it is, folks…the moment you’ve all been waiting for. A chance to win fame, swag, and the thanks of a grateful nation.

In observance of my 25th anniversary as editorial cartoonist for the Sun Sentinel, I am launching another Official Lowe-Down cartoon caption contest.

All you have to do is come up with a caption for the cartoon displayed above and post your creation as a blog comment, so everyone can enjoy it. There is no limit on the number of individual entries, in the event you are feeling particularly inspired.

The caption submission period will last two weeks. At the end of this time, a distinguished and learned panel of veteran journalists, consisting of Opinion Editor Antonio Fins, Daily Buzzmeister Gary “The Opinionator” Stein and myself, will carefully comb through the offerings to pick what we think are the top three.

I will then put up a week-long poll where the three finalists are submitted to a Vote of the People. All three will receive an Official Lowe-Down Blog T-shirt (modeled at left). The first-place winner, as determined by the poll, will also be awarded a one-year membership to Morikami Gardens, with all the benefits pertaining thereto.

PRIZE UPDATE: It has come to our attention that the prizes being offered so far have little appeal to anyone under about 50 years old. "What is Morikami?" one teen is reported to have said.

In hopes of attracting a younger crowd to the contest, the Lowe-Down rummaged around in his kitchen utility drawer and dug up two theater chain movie passes that he was given once when he donated blood platelets. They appear to have no expiration date, so we are throwing them into the prize mix. The winner must take his own chances at the gate.

In addition, we will feature the cartoon with the winning caption both on this blog and on the op-ed page of the South Florida Sun Sentinel (suitable for framing, if that’s your thing) with the winner’s name and photo.

Entrants should make sure to use their real names and email addresses, so they can be contacted in the event they are winners.

One last request: Please keep your entries clean and tasteful.

Above all, HAVE FUN!

LET THE CONTEST BEGIN!!!!!

WE HAVE A WINNER!

A couple of weeks ago, I inaugurated the first Official Lowe-Down Cartoon Caption Contest, and the results were phenomenal. Over 150 would-be cartoonists sent in their captions to complete my drawing. After the caption entry period ended, Editorial Page Editor Tony Fins and I sifted through the submissions, some of them inspired, some incomprehensible, some utterly tasteless. We narrowed the field to three finalists, which were submitted to a week-long Vote of the People.

The people responded in force from locales all over America, as well as Jamaica, Brazil, and the United Kingdom, registering a whopping 488 votes by the end of the contest period. The runaway favorite, with 61.7% of the vote, was the caption submitted by Gary Pedullo of Deerfield Beach, FL. I have lettered Gary's winning caption into the cartoon posted above. Gary also wins an Official Lowe-Down blog t-shirt.

Be sure to keep checking the blog for future contests, daily cartoons, audio/visuals, animations, and, of course, commentary.

Opinion Polls & Market Research

We've received an overwhelming number of entries, a few of which were truly inspired. After several long, bitter horse-trading sessions, Opinion Page Editor Antonio Fins and I have winnowed the number down to the ones we believe to be the best three.

Now, it's YOUR turn! You will have until Sunday night, May 4th, to register your preference by clicking on one of the captions listed above. The winner of the vote will receive the Grand Prize, an official Lowe-Down T-shirt and the reprinting of the cartoon and their caption, with credit, on the Sun-Sentinel's op-ed page, as well as here in The Lowe-Down.

As they say in Chicago, "Vote early and often!"

UPDATE!! On Day Two of the vote, the contest has gone international! In addition to votes from all over the United States, we now have a couple from Jamaica and one from Brazil.

The Three Finalists
"I keep telling him osmosis won't fill up the tank."
-submitted by Ashley

"911...Help, I need a hostage negotiator."
-submitted by Gary

"In a minute, Barbara. He's on a conference call with OPEC."
-submitted by Fred

CONTEST ENTRY PERIOD CLOSES THIS SUNDAY NIGHT!!

Response to the first Official Lowe-Down Cartoon Caption Contest (see above) has been overwhelming! So much so, we have decided to close it down a week early so that our blue-ribbon panel of judges, Opinion Page Editor Tony Fins and myself, does not find the task of winnowing the entries too daunting.

Don't worry, thanks to the success of this one, there will be more contests and MORE OPPORTUNITIES TO WIN!

I will keep the contest open until this Sunday night, April 27th. After that, no more submissions will be accepted. Next Monday, Tony and I will choose what, in our opinion, are the three wittiest and most intelligent captions. They will be posted on the blog that night with buttons that readers can click on to register their preference. This Vote of the People will be open until the following Sunday night, May 4th, and the Grand Prize Winner will be announced with much fanfare in the blog the next day.

So those of you who have been holding back until now, stiffen your spines and send something in! Time's a-wastin'. If you've already graced us with the fruits of your funny bone, why not send in something else? It just increases your chances.

Here it is, Folks... a brand-new feature! The Official Lowe-Down Cartoon Caption Contest! Tell your friends!

I will leave the following cartoon up for two weeks while you scour your imaginations to come up with the most riveting, eye-popping caption to complete the visual thought I have presented. Post your entries as comments to the blog, so that everybody can see them. There is no limit to entries. At the end of the two-week period, a blue-ribbon panel of seasoned, vetted experts, consisting of myself and my editor, the learned Antonio Fins, will determine the top three captions. These will then be released on the blog and submitted to a Vote of the People to determine who shall win the Grand Prize.

The winner shall receive an Official Lowe-Down T-shirt. In addition, I will hand-letter the winning caption onto the cartoon, which will be reprinted (with credit to the author) on the Sun-Sentinel's Op-Ed Page and, of course, posted on the Lowe-Down.

Whaddaya say, all you frustrated cartoonists out there? Think you're up to the challenge?

Remember you must leave a real email address, so I can get back to you when you win. Any obscene or offensive postings will be disqualified and taken down.

LET THE CONTEST BEGIN!!!!