The Czar, who was anonymous, abdicated in late 2003, leaving the contest in the hands of his former associate, The Empress, copy editor Patricia (Pat) Myers.
The humor ranges from an intellectual vein to a less mature style, and frequently touches on sophisticated political or historical allusions.
The Style Invitational kicked off in March 1993 by asking readers to come up with a less offensive name for the Washington Redskins.
He won a Timex watch like the one President Bill Clinton wore at the time, and apparently never entered again, as he wanted to retire undefeated.
He won an as yet unpurchased large kitschy crab sculpture/decoration, but traded it for a Timex watch like the one President Bill Clinton wore at the time.
Another early contest asked entrants to help choose a better nickname for Washington, D.C., to replace "A Capital City".
meets periodically in the Washington, D.C., area, and hosts an annual "Flushies" awards dinner that has attracted gameplayers from as far away as Ireland and California.
There has also been a contest newsletter, "Depravda", begun by Elden Carnahan of Laurel, Md., and subsequently foisted off on another unsuspecting Loser.
Although the Post received numerous letters to the editors complaining about the change, the final column did run on December 11 and was a celebration of past entries.
[6] Numerous humorous lists passed around the Internet, usually misattributed, had their actual origin in the Style Invitational.
Elden Carnahan, of Laurel, Maryland (aka Grace Fuller) tabulates running statistics on the contest that are available on the "Losers"' unofficial web site.
Chris Doyle, currently entering from Denton, Texas and earlier from various Internet cafes during dozens of overseas trips, is known for his prodigious wordplay, poetry and anagrams, and was a perennial winner in a similar past contest in New York magazine, from which the S.I.
He is the current all-time Invitational leader, the first entrant to amass over 2,000 inks, and is also the third-most prolific contributor to the Omnificent English Dictionary in Limerick Form (OEDILF).
Jennifer Hart, of Arlington, Va., has been a frequent winner and eclipsed Chuck Smith as all-time points leader during the years in which she actively participated.
His unmasking as a nom de plume prompted the current contest rule barring pseudonymous entries.
[18] In early 2011, with the Invitational's move to Sunday's Style section, the Empress was outed by the Post as former copy editor Pat Myers, whose real name appears in the byline.
On occasion, the Post website includes "overflow" Honorable Mentions absent from the print editions; this is typically limited to contest results in which each entry is necessarily lengthy (e.g., song parody lyrics) and the print column capable of running only a small number of entries.
Defunct past themes included writing the "Ear No One Reads", being "Uncle's Pick" (a reference to a humorless figure nominated to replace the Czar years ago), being the Rookie of the Week, and penning the Contest's short-lived "Dead Presidents" comic strip.
The Empress is constantly on the look out for flagrant plagiarism (defined as "being in touch with one's inner Google"), the penalty for which is severe admonition and retribution.
In March 2012, a reusable grocery bag was introduced as a new runner-up prize; just weeks later, the Empress switched to a new first-place statue, the "Inkin' Memorial" (an Abraham Lincoln bobblehead) from the original "Inker" (a bookend of The Thinker with a paper bag over its head) after the bookends went out of manufacture.