The Last Page Humor Column Writer's Guidelines
 
The Last Page is a monthly column that aims at humor. Its length runs between 500 and 650 words. Because of the difficulty in judging humor by proposal, we require submission of a completed manuscript. The Web submission form's proposal text box will accommodate a manuscript and cover letter. Payment for the column is $1,000, and there is no kill fee.
 
The article should be amusing and the tone genial - a story rather than a list of jokes or situations. The story usually relates to the writer's own particular experience. For example, what happened after he shaved off his moustache; what it's like to be colorblind (or a hypochondriac); or how an innocent-seeming toy ant farm turned into an unintended lesson in life. A "Last Page" story has a beginning, middle and end, and something happens. The best way to learn what a successful last page piece is, and how it works, is to study several of them.mithsonian.com