Although John Updike was given a special lifetime achievement award for having been shortlisted four times in 16 years, the 2008 Literary Review Bad Sex in Fiction Prize went to Rachel Johnson for her novel Shire Hell, according to the Associated Press (via USA Today).
"All the passages this year are equally awful," said Tom Fleming, the magazine's deputy editor, "but Rachel Johnson's struck us because of the mixture of cliche and euphemism. There were a couple of really bad animal metaphors in there."
Johnson was not displeased with the dubious honor. "I always wanted to win a literary award," she said, noting that previous winners include Sebastian Faulks, Tom Wolfe and the late Norman Mailer.