Cathy Bryant of Manchester, England has written the worst sentence of the year, winning the annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest with the world’s worst opening to an imaginary novel. Here is the sentence:
As he told her that he loved her she gazed into his eyes, wondering, as she noted the infestation of eyelash mites, the tiny deodicids burrowing into his follicles to eat the greasy sebum therein, each female laying up to 25 eggs in a single follicle, causing inflammation, whether the eyes are truly the windows of the soul; and, if so, his soul needed regrouting.
Follow this link to read the worst sentences in other categories.
Suzanne Fondrie, the proud winner of last year’s competition, congratulated Bryant: “I take pleasure in passing the guttering torch of Bad Writing to this year’s winner. May you write long and badly, Cathy!”


This prize is part of an annual bad writing competition that began in 1982 at San Jose State University. The contest was named after Victorian novelist Edward George Earle Bulwer-Lytton (pictured, via), an author famous for writing the opening line: “It was a dark and stormy night.” (Via Publishers Weekly)