Are You a Chap ?

For decades, gentlemen and ladies of the land have posted their photographs to The Chap Magazine, requesting that their sartorial credentials be uncompromisingly assessed.
The column has proved so popular that a book publisher is to present a weighty tome containing all the triumphs, disappointments and gung-ho efforts made by the readers. This book, Am I A Chap?, will be published by Beautiful Books on 19th May this year.
On the evening of the following Saturday, 21st May, the Chap will stage its inaugural Chap Of The Year contest. This will be the live version of Am I A Chap? Ten contestants, carefully chosen through a selection process taking place on this very webular dominion, will be asked to pit their gentlemanly and ladylike skills against one another. The competition is open to both Chaps and Chapettes and the disciplines will straddle all boundaries of gender and age.
A panel of judges, hand-picked from the cream of society and Piccadilly stage doors, will assess the contestants within the categories of Chappism at which they are each experts: Sartorial Flair, Etiquette and Seduction. The ten contestants will have to display their skills on stage in front of a live audience at Camden Hall, an authentic 1930s ballroom in the heart of London, opposite St Pancras Railway Station. Tickets will be available from here very soon.
To see the current three nominees and cast your vote, please visit Nominees for Chap of the Year
If you wish to put yourself forward, or nominate a chum for Chap of the Year, please visit Chap of the Year


Chap of the Year
Are you of the opinion that your clothes, manners, personal grooming habits, witticisms, mode of conduct and talent at seducing the ladies could cut the mustard in front of a panel of judges?
If so, then you could be a prime candidate for Chap of the Year, a new talent contest which aims to find the Chappiest Chap in the nation. Send us a photogoraph of yourself, plus a few words expaining why you think you should be put forward, to coty@thechap.net

If you think that one of your chums could make the grade, then send us his photograph. But please do mention it to him first, in case he turns rather shy all of a sudden: the shortlist of ten chaps, selected via this page, will be expected to display their Chappist skills in front of a live audience on Saturday 21st May 2011.

Once we have our ten nominees - the selection process will take place on this page and will be entirely open to readers' votes - they will be put through a series of rigorous tests on 21st May, to see which of them really deserves the coveted title of Chap of the Year and the valuable prize of an annual subscription to The Chap (plus more prizes to be announced in due course).

Chap of the Year
Camden Hall, Judd Street, London WC1H 9LZ
7pm-late, Saturday 21st May 2011


Stewart Waller: Luke Ansell Wenban would very much like to nominate his great friend Mr Stewart E Waller. “He is an absolute gentleman of the first order and would make an excellent ambassador for the cause. A man ready to help out at a moment’s notice, especially if it’s for a fine filly, offer you his pipe tobacco, or just general good bonhomie. Here is a quintessential chap, you need look no further for your Chap of the Year!”



Compton Bassett: “I respectfully nominate Mr. Robert Evans, also know to the authorities and bookmakers as Compton Bassett,” writes Col. Cyrus Choke (Hon. Ret.) If there is any one young gentleman that embodies the Chap Spirit, it is CB. He is unfailingly pleasant, dapper, and knows how to hold his liquor (usually neat and in a decent glass). His devotion to form and traditions that were dead before he was born is known to all. It needs no embellishment here. Simply put, I believe he deserves this honor and I hope you will consider this nomination.”



Maxwell Keller: I do not waiver when I walk out dressed in tweed with a rakishly angled-fedora (alas, they do not sell trilbies in my area), I do not falter when I lend my copy of the Chap Manifesto to professors and students alike, and I certainly do not hesitate to invite others into my room for tea (although there is no one who sells loose leaf tea in the area, I found a friend who has access to them as long as I provide the cups and saucers). Every day, I work towards the time in Flagstaff, nay, the US when dandyism, civility, and wit are the norm of everyone instead of the charming individualistic traits of one person, me. But for now, the road is long and the destination is far away, but I shall stroll along leisurely, hat-doffing everyone that I meet on my journey.