Daily Grind Iron Man Challenge

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This article documents a current event.
Information may change rapidly as the event progresses.

The decreasing number of particpants in the grind over time, as of September 2006

The Daily Grind Iron Man Challenge is an ongoing webcomics competition, featuring 56 webcomics. Competitors each donate $20 to a communal pot totalling US$1120 that will be awarded to the person who goes the longest without missing an update. In order to remain in competition, each participant must update their webcomic with (typically) at least two panels of their own original work Monday through Friday. (More complete rules are available at the official website.)

Notable participants included Scott Kurtz of PvP and Greg Dean of Real Life, both of whom are now out.

Since the start of the Daily Grind, the original prize has been supplemented by additional money raised by selling advertising. Some of this money has been set aside to provide a second place prize of $130, a $50 donation to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, and $50 to the ACTOR Comic Fund.

1 Remaining Competitors
2 Eliminated Competitors
3 Viewership and Comics
4 Criticism
5 External links

[edit] Remaining Competitors

Currently 20 participants remain eligible to win the Daily Grind.

Joseph Bergin III
Jennie Breeden
Stephen Burrell
Paul Gadzikowski
Jamie Dee Galey
Edward J Grug III
Brad Guigar
Tim Hulsizer
Brandon Lewis
Tyler Longmire
Tom McHenry
Michael H. Payne
Eric Poole
Phil Redmon
Andrew Rothery
R. Smith
Ive Sorocuk
Mike Stevens
Jam Torkberg
Bela Whigimill

[edit] Eliminated Competitors

Eliminated Competitors

Name	Website	Date Dropped	Reason
Donald Noffsinger	http://www.demondormdays.com/	March 11, 2005	Invalid Comic (posted a photo unrelated to comic as a panel)
Richard Guidry	http://www.livejournal.com/users/tacticia/	March 15, 2005	Voluntary Drop
Bruce Gorr	http://www.livejournal.com/users/bangoe23/	March 24, 2005	Incarceration
Scott Williams	http://www.murderbunny.com/	April 5, 2005	Voluntary Drop
Jeff Skinner	http://www.livejournal.com/users/olentzero/	April 15, 2005	Computer Problems
Corey McDaniel	http://www.petnzoo.com/chj5.html	April 19, 2005	Computer Problems
Dean Trippe	http://www.tencentticker.com/butterfly.htm	May 5, 2005	Voluntary Drop
John Campbell	http://goodbyefoom.stereotypist.com/	May 11, 2005	Homelessness
Erik Goldsby	http://www.duzty.com/	May 11, 2005	Voluntary Drop
Wendy Chin	http://www.livejournal.com/users/bardot	May 18, 2005	Voluntary Drop
Jeff Bent	http://www.sporecloud.com/Comics	June 3, 2005	Invalid Comic (posted a pin-up)
Philippe Gaboury	http://www.thebigthreeoh.com/	June 17, 2005	Voluntary Drop
Tod Emko	http://www.toastedpixel.com/	June 22, 2005	Invalid Comic (posted a pin-up)
Scott Kurtz	http://pvponline.com/	July 11, 2005	Voluntary Drop
Jason Turner	http://www.jasonturnerproject.com/grind/grinder.html	July 17, 2005	Voluntary Drop
Brian Fukushima	http://www.bottomlesspop.com/	August 10, 2005	Missed a Comic
Owen Kuhn	http://kotoc.keenspace.com/	August 30, 2005	Posted the Same Comic Twice
Greg Dean	http://www.reallifecomics.com/	September 5, 2005	Voluntary Drop
Robin Bougie	http://www.livejournal.com/users/bougieman/	September 9, 2005	Voluntary Drop
Miles Pekala	http://strangetown.purpling.com/	September 13, 2005	Missed a Day (comic removed by family)
Phil McAndrew	http://www.philintheblanks.com/	September 15, 2005	Invalid Comic
Chris Crosby	http://www.superosity.com/	November 28, 2005	Computer Problems (blizzard)
Yu-Jay Huoh	http://abrandonedkids.steakforbreakfast.com/	November 28, 2005	Missed a Day
John Hill	http://www.amazingamoeba.com/	December 5, 2005	Voluntary Drop
Natasha Allegri	http://www.livejournal.com/users/normallife/	December 9, 2005	Voluntary Drop
Remi Treuer	http://www.too-fat.com/	December 9, 2005	Voluntary Drop
Steve Troop	http://www.melonpool.com/	December 22, 2005	Voluntary Drop
Todd A. Sullivan	http://www.caffcomics.com/	January 9, 2006	Voluntary Drop
David Wright	http://www.toddandpenguin.com/	February 1, 2006	Voluntary Drop
Karl Kauffman	http://karltoons.com/	May 4, 2006	Voluntary Drop
Dalton Sharp	http://www.crowncommission.com/dalton/	May 11, 2006	Invalid Comic
Matt Johnson	http://cortland.keenspace.com/	June 12, 2006	Voluntary Drop
Lonnie Allen	http://www.dadagraphics.com/	June 30, 2006	Voluntary Drop
Bryan Stone	http://www.poisondartonline.com/frogherder.htm	July 26, 2006	Voluntary Drop
D.J. Coffman	http://www.yirmumah.com/	October 16, 2006	Voluntary Drop
Alig Graham	http://www.housd.net/	December 5, 2006	Voluntary Drop

[edit] Viewership and Comics

The Daily Grind has brought attention and increased viewership to several of the comics participating, notably Jennie Breeden's The Devil's Panties, which was added to Keenspot in September 2005. Viewership to most of the comics has also received periodic boosts when news of more popular comics, like PVP, Real Life, or Superosity being eliminated circulated through the web comic community.

[edit] Criticism

There have been several criticisms of the Daily Grind.

One common complaint has been the lack of a quality criterion—one could theoretically win the Daily Grind despite having a poorly drawn strip. However, many of the competitors view the competition as a motivation to develop and improve their skills and discipline, and the monetary prize as secondary.
Originally, the Daily Grind was intended as an amateur contest. Some participants criticized the decision to allow the participation of well-known webcartoonists such as Kurtz, Dean, and Chris Crosby (of Superosity), who had been producing webcomics for years (and making money in the process) without interruption. But other competitors were glad for the participation of notable webcomic "names" as it added to the prestige of the contest and to traffic to their own comics. Eventually this debate proved moot as the pro cartoonists either experienced difficulty updating on time or had guest artists draw strips, which led to their disqualification from the Daily Grind.