Since 1982 the English Department at San Jose State University has sponsored the On a dark and stormy night, LOL at worst-first-sentence awards.
from the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest
[Editor’s note: Many readers will be familiar with this worst-first-sentence contest. According to the BLFC website: “Since 1982 the English Department at San Jose State University has sponsored the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, a whimsical literary competition that challenges entrants to compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels… ” The 2012 contest winners’ page includes dozens of worthy mentions as well as prize winners in categories such as Children’s Literature, Crime, Romance, and Vile Puns. Here are three of the winners.]