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CNN Live Today

Woman Wins Worst Writing Contest

Aired July 16, 2002 - 13:55   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: A woman who works with words for a living has a contest for this year's worst writing.

Reporter Juliette Goodrich of our affiliate station KPIX, in San Jose, tells us about it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REPHAH BERG, CONTEST WINNER: I might be the worst of the best.

JULIETTE GOODRICH, KPIX REPORTER (voice-over): When Rephah Berg of Oakland put her writing talents to the test and entered the Bulwer- Lytton fiction contest for horrible writing...

BERG: "Bumpity, bumpity, in..."

GOODRICH: She won.

BERG: I was aiming for this is so bad it's funny. And I must have got it. Look what happened.

GOODRICH: About a year ago, Berg sat down and crafted the one sentence that earned her this year's title. San Jose State University professor Scott Rice started the contest in 1982 and says it takes talent to be horrible.

SCOTT RICE, SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY: If you win, it shows that you were so good that you were able to imitate somebody terrible, and do it convincingly. Or if you don't, it's because you couldn't write badly enough. So you can't lose.

GOODRICH: And so what did Berg write.

BERG: "On reflection, Angela perceived that her relationship with Tom had always been rocky. Not quite a roller-coaster ride, but more like when the toilet paper roll gets a little squashed so it hangs crooked, and every time you pull some off, you can hear the rest going bumpity, bumpity in its holder until you go nuts and push it back into shape -- a degree of annoyance that Angela had now almost attained."

GOODRICH: The judges apparently thought the composition was a combination of something atrocious and appropriate. The grand prize, $250. BERG: It's a lot for one sentence.

GOODRICH: When Berg isn't working on her horrible writing, she's creating word puzzles and buttons. She says she is -- quote -- "flushed" with pride with this latest achievement, but she says it isn't about to go to her head.

BERG: I look at it the same way I always do, and for the same purpose.

GOODRICH: Juliette Goodrich, Channel 5 Eyewitness News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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