Bad Sex in Fiction awards are cancelled for 2020: ‘The public has already subjected to too many bad things this year’

Prize celebrates some of the worst sexual descriptions in works of non-erotic fiction

Morrissey won the award in 2015 for his debut novel ‘List of the Lost' (Rex Features)

The Bad Sex in Fiction award has been cancelled for 2020 after the judges declared that “too many bad things” had already happened this year.

The award, which is run by the Literary Review, was set up in 1993 to celebrate some of worst sexual descriptions in works of non-erotic fiction.

However, on Tuesday (8 December), it was announced that this year’s prize had been cancelled, with the judges saying that “the public had been subjected to too many bad things this year to justify exposing it to bad sex as well”.

The judges have warned authors that the event’s cancellation is not an excuse to write bad sex, commenting: “With lockdown regulations giving rise to all manner of novel sexual practices, the judges anticipate a rash of entries next year.

“Authors are reminded that cybersex and other forms of home entertainment fall within the purview of this award. Scenes set in fields, parks or backyards, or indoors with the windows open and fewer than six people present will not be exempt from scrutiny.”

Over the past 27 years, many famous authors have been nominated for the prize for writing “egregious passages of sexual description”, including Stephen King, Nick Cave and Tony Blair.

Former Smiths singer Morrissey won the prize in 2015, saying of the award: “I have many enemies and their biggest motivation, as you know, is to try to use all your achievements against you.”

Last year, the Bad Sex in Fiction Award was given to two authors for the first time: Didier Decoin for The Office of Gardens and Ponds, which compared a penis to “a small monkey that was curling up its paws” and John Harvey for Pax, which included the line: “They embraced as if with violent holding they could weld the two of them one.”