Winning Entry

Submitted by Rosemary Gonzalez of California

Just about everything was wrong with the winning entry. It was a set of instructions for a piece of exercise equipment. The instructions only told you how not to use the equipment, rather than how it could be properly used. The illustrations were difficult to follow, and the accompanying text was vague and used poor, confusing grammar. There were also no reference numbers with any of the illustrations, although the captions referenced specific figure numbers.

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Runner-Up #1

Submitted by Suzanne Madison of California

This is actually a document she was updating at the time of our contest. It was selected because of lack of format and poorly written procedures. How would you like to read this? Just once?

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Runner-Up #2

Submitted by Michael Hendry of Pennsylvania

This is an instruction manual for installing a fireplace insert. He paid a couple thousand dollars for this fireplace and it came with a very poorly edited manual.

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Runner-Up #3

Submitted by Roger Doering of Arizona

This is an engineering manual that was so poorly written that it wouldn't even scan. It was a manual for a 1 watt, 10 watt, and 100 watt television translator (whatever that is). The schematics had wiring that went off the page into oblivion. There was no convention for symbols and hand written notes on the margins that were actually part of the original manual.

Honorable Mention

Paul and Vickie Tikkanen
of Canada

This wasn't actually a manual, but a sticker from the bottom of a candle. It had so many misspellings that it qualified as an honorable mention.