ABOUT THE FIRST-PLACE WINNER: JOYCE JOHNSON OF CAPE GIRARDEAU

Joyce Johnson had a good laugh dreaming up entries for the "You are so Swampeast Missouri if..." Contest. But it paid off.

The Cape Girardeau resident is the grand prize winner. She receives $1,000 in West Park Mall dollars, a comic-strip umbrella and a framed caricature of her entry.

Her winning entry was "You are so Swampeast Missouri if you drive 15 miles to the next town to save 3 cents a gallon for gas."

For the past 29 years, she has worked for the state of Missouri at the local Disability Determination office. She schedules consulting examinations with doctors and hospitals for people applying for Social Security disability.

She is a native of Cape Girardeau, who was widowed last year. She has two daughters. One is an ultrasound technician at Southeast Hospital; the other is a technician for Southwestern Bell.

Why did she enter?

"Needless to say, the money was appealing, " said Johnson. "If nothing else, there's always honorable mention and the umbrella."

Once she started, thinking up jokes became rather addicting. A home-delivery subscriber, she cut out the entry form in each day's paper during the contest period. Johnson also bought a YELL paper to enter.

"I had one joke left so I borrowed a paper from someone," she said.

One Saturday morning, she went to a local fast food restaurant and just observed people. "I wrote down three jokes on a napkin that day," she laughed.

"It's good to be able to laugh at ourselves," she said.