Wisconsin Professor Wins 2011 Bad Writing Contest
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- A sentence in which tiny birds and the English language are both slaughtered is this year's winner of an annual bad writing contest.
San Jose State University Prof. Scott Rice says Sue Fondrie of Oshkosh, Wis., took top honors Monday in the 2011 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest for her sentence comparing forgotten memories to dead sparrows.
Contestants are asked to submit the worst possible opening sentences to imaginary novels. Fondrie wrote:
"Cheryl's mind turned like the vanes of a wind-powered turbine, chopping her sparrow-like thoughts into bloody pieces that fell onto a growing pile of forgotten memories."
Rice says the University of Wisconsin professor's 26-word sentence is the shortest grand prize winner in the contest's 29-year history.
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