Judge — April 30, 1921 — page 25: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page showcases Judge magazine's weekly amateur cartoon competition, awarding $50 total in prizes ($25 first, $10 second, $5 third, plus honorable mentions). The contest mechanic is a "wiggle-wobble" drawing game: contestants trace an abstract squiggly line accurately, then build a finished cartoon around it. The instructions emphasize following the actual line precisely while exercising creative interpretation. The winning entries display typical 1920s humor: domestic scenes, physical comedy, exaggerated character types. The first-prize winner by J.S. Amorimann depicts a dog asking "D'you ever hear this one?"—a setup for a joke, capturing the era's casual animal-character humor. This represents Judge's democratization of cartooning talent, inviting amateur submissions rather than relying solely on professional staff. The contest format was common in humor magazines of this period, engaging readers while discovering new artistic voices.