Our Top Ten Funny Writers for 2012

The Robert Benchley Society is pleased to announce the ten semi-finialists in the competition for the 2012 Robert Benchley Humor Writing Award. The top ten entries, in alphabetic order by author, are:

• Con Chapman of Weston, Mass., for How to Make an Atom Bomb While Your Wife’s Away
• Carol Cherman of Los Angeles, Calif., for Cane Mutiny
• Whit Deschner of Baker City, Oregon, for I Didn't Say That
• Robert G. Ferrell of La Vernia, Texas, for r u ded?
• Tim French of Midway, Ala., for Who Says You Can't Dance?
• Cathy Lennon of Park City, Utah, for How to Yawn
• Jesse Levy of Burbank, Calif., for My Scotch Adventure
• Mary Stobie of Wheat Ridge, Colorado, for The Truth About Steam Baths
• Nick Thomas of Elmore, Ala., for Trouble for Nursery Rhyme Characters
• The Writing Fairy of Sunderland, Ontario, for Personal Ad

These essays are in the hands of this year's celebrity judge, comedian Arte Johnson, perhaps best known for playing Wolfgang the German soldier on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. Mr. Johnson will select the top four essays in order and send the writer of each essay a personal note stating what he liked about the essay. The Annnual Award Ceremony and Dinner will be held this fall in Los Angeles at a date to be determined based on the availability of our winners and Mr. Johnon.

The judges in the first round, which resulted in the top ten semi-finalists were:

• 2005 Benchley Society First Place Award Winner, President of the Longwood, Washington "We Only Came to See if There Really is an Award" Chapter of the RBS, and West Coast Vice Chairman of the RBS, Horace Digby;
  
• Author of Robert Benchley: An Annotated Bibliography, and RBS Director, the late Gordon E. Ernst;
  
• President of the Washington, D.C. "Lost Locomotive" Chapter of the RBS, Matthew Hahn;
  
• Writer and RBS Director, Eileen Forster Keck;
  
• RBS Co-Founder and Director, Sharon Lyon;
  
• RBS East Coast Vice Chairman, Christopher Morgan;
  
• 2007 Benchley Society First Place Award Winner, author of Disabled Fables, and RBS Director, Dan Montville;
  
• Chairman of the Ann Arbor "A Moderate State of Preservation Chapter" of the RBS, editor of The Athletic Benchley, and RBS Director, Tom Saunders;
  
• Co-Founder and Director of the RBS and past Vice Chairman, Pamela Siska; and
  
• 2009 Benchley Society First Place Award Winner and RBS Director, Ed Tasca.