Don Davis took first place in the 5th annual HumorFeed Satire Awards.

The Best Satire of the Year: Is Christmas Really "Too Big to Fail"?

January 27, 2010

In a sign of the times, the winning story of the fifth annual HumorFeed Satire News Awards focused on excessive corporate bonuses and an institution that is 'too big to fail' - in this case, Christmas.

Don Davis, of Satirical Political, won first place with his entry, A Real War on Xmas: Outrage Grows Over Excessive Bonuses to Santa's Elves. His entry was chosen by a panel of journalists and humor writers as the best HumorFeed story of 2009.

"In the year of bailouts and 'too big to fail,' the writer does a superb job of nailing every opportunity for humor," said panelist Dave Kartunen, news anchor for Boston NBC affiliate WHDH. "It's brilliant, timely, and topical."

HumorFeed is a selective association of over fifty satire and humor websites primarily from the U.S., U.K., and Canada. For its annual competition, an independent judging panel rates the top stories from among over 3,000 headlines run during the previous year. In addition to Kartunen the panel this year included Emmy-award winning journalist Robert Zelnick, chair of the Boston University Department of Journalism; bestselling author Eric Weiner, former NPR correspondent; and humor columnist Madeleine Begun Kane, winner of the 2008 Robert Benchley Society Award for Humor.

Davis, an attorney from New York, is the author of "One State Two State Red State Blue State: A Satirical Guide to the Political And Culture Wars" (2005). His entry this year edged out second place winner Jews Demote Madoff to Arab from The Skunk; 2006 HumorFeed competition winner Confusion Road placed third with World Leaders Agree: Earth Has a Climate.

The entry from British site The Daily Fortnight was selected for the Editors' Choice award by HumorFeed members.

There were several strong entries in this year's competition playing off subjects ranging from iPhone apps to NASA-trained monkeys, but Davis' story about federal bailouts and Christmas stock(ing) bonuses struck a chord with all the judges.

"It's about time somebody got to the core of the problem," said Zelnick.

The top ten HumorFeed stories of the year chosen by the independent panel are as follows:

1. A Real War on Xmas: Outrage Grows Over Excessive Bonuses to Santa's Elves (Satirical Political)
2. Jews demote Madoff to Arab (The Skunk)
3. World Leaders Agree: Earth Has a Climate (Confusion Road)
4. Iceberg That Sunk Titanic Dead at 102 (Daily Fortnight)
5. Hero No More, Pilot Sullenberger Refuses To Land Plane In Chicago River (Satire & Comment)
6. New iPhone App Lets Users Talk To Each Other (CAP News)
7. House Passes $400 Kadrillion Jillion Funding Bill for War in Afghanistan (News Mutiny)
8. Delta Airlines locates Wright Brothers' luggage (DERF Magazine)
9. First Monkey to Ever Walk on the Moon Declared Dead (The History Bluff)
10. Unsolicited Advice from Old People: Driving in Houston (The Texas Cockroach)

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