Fourth Annual Delete Key Awards Shortlist in 15 Minutes

One-Minute Book Reviews will begin to announce the finalists for the Fourth Annual Delete Key Awards for bad writing in books in about 15 minutes.

These literary booby prizes do not recognize the year’s “worst books” but give examples of many kinds of bad writing found in books published in hardcover or paperback in 2009: clichés, bad grammar, pomposity, dumbing-down, purple prose and more.

The 10 Delete Key Awards finalists will be announced in random order today, beginning with No. 10, but numbered for convenience.  The winner and runners-up will be announced on March 15 because Julius Caesar was assassinated on the Ides of March, and the winners assassinate the English language.