Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-12-20
STAR.DULLETIN NAN Wins HONOR
FOR HIS SKILL IN AD-SElIING
John p. Comes Takes Place in
Contest That Attracted
1856 Entries

composing roOm On tie MerehaHs
street once of tie IIOnoluin slaT.
Bulletin. has Just Won signal honors
In composition with 30 other mem
Ders Of his professions throughout
the United States and Canada Com
peting In one Of the Inland Printers
noted ad-setting contests. he haa
come out fourth and missed iirst
place by only q narrow margin.
The Inland Printer ID the reading
trade journal in the printing and
allied industries, and the announce
menf Of the contest IL made In the
December issue. Under the rules Of
the contest small advertisement Of
a banking and investment business
was called for and copy" submitted
to the printers throughout the coun-
try. The feat Of setting up q neat
display ad from the copy was q diff
cult one, but no less than 1876 differ
ent ads were submitted, men In every
city and practically every town In
America competing. Each competitor
was required to send 200 slips OF
each Of his entries and these slips
were made up into sets and mailed to
every other competitor. The win.
ming specimens were then determined
by a vote among the competitors
themselves. all practical judges. each
voting what ads he thought were best
among those submitted to him. Three
points were awarded to each ad Sc
lected for first place, two for each
second and one for each third.
Jack Comes, as he is weIlknown
in the Honolulu shops. won fourth
place with "a points. H. W. Hawley
of long Beach, Cal, won first place
and second and third places were
taken by man from Wichita Falls,
Texas, and a man from Detroit, Mich.
AS further proof of Comes fine
work, his criticism Of the ads sub
mitted to him was nearly perfect, for
he selected for first place the man
who actually won first by the votes
of the competitors. he selected for
second place the man who won sixth,
and for third place the man who won
tenth. The winner Of the first prize
didn't choose man in the first three.
nor did the second winner choose a
man in the first five, while the third
man chose the second and fifth men
for first and second place respective.
" Thus Comes judgment was shown
to be splendid
The customer whose advertisement
was used also made a selection but
the ad that he picked as the best
didn't get single vote from the prac-s
teal men of the industry.
Comes is a local boy and has
learned his tradeand learned 1t
welI--in Honolulu. He was born in.
Hawaii in 1886 and learned the print
ing and ad-setting trade in the Office
of the Hawaiian Star. He became
foreman of the Star Bulletin branch
Office when the two papers were
amAlgamated. He is yice-president
of Honolulu Typographical Union No.
81 and is progressive young man.
He is q student of the l. T. u. course
and has won prizes in Inland Printer
contests twice previously.
He took second place in Ad. Con-
test No. 81 in january, 1911, the pTin-|
tiers themselves acting as judges.
About hundred printers entered this
contest. He missed first place By
only three points.
III OCRtCAAAbOt vi ShC odL4O yCo1a AOi
was awarded seventh place in Ad.
Contest No. 33, by three judges Sc
lected to pass upon the ads. One of
the judges was Roland s. Hall. in
charge of advertising at the Interna-
tional Correspondence Schools, Seran-
ton, Pa. About $50 printers entered
this contest. i
d Outside of winning in adj contests
he also won fourth prize in letter
head contest conducted by the Pro-
gressiYe Printer of st. Louis, Mo. The
prize was cash award.
: A few months later he was award
ed thirteenth place in a title-page
contest conducted by the same people
He was also given a cash prize for
this.
In June of this year he entered a
cover-page contest conducted by the
Inland Printer. In this contest about
five hundred printers entered. In all
the judges had 104S specimens to
pass on Out of fourteen selected for
honorable mention Comes was one.
- g