the style invitational, or invite, is a long-running humor contest that ran first in the style section of the sunday washington post before moving to saturday's style and later returning to the sunday paper. started in 1993, it has run weekly, except for a hiatus in late 1999. in that time, it has had two head judges who select winning entries: "the czar" and "the empress." 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. while the contest theme changes every week, some popular contests are periodically repeated. the s.i. has a loyal following of self-proclaimed "losers," who refer to having a contest entry published as "getting ink".