Though perhaps dwarfed by world events, may the fact that the winner was a University Professor, and thus had an unfair advantage in being steeped in bad prose, not go unnoticed: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/terrible-prose-wins-literary-prize-2326215.html That winner was good but, unlike the impressed comment-poster, thought the purple prose winner was clumsily-written (too obvious, painting-by-numbers way) with a too predictable pay-off, and not that amusing. Compare this literary "copper-smelling" genius:- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pQXGId_Oe4&has_verified=1 Presumably there is a poetry equivalent, which may save us bothering to pick up the Bad Poetry Competition thread in years to come? D ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html