I heard an interview today on NPR's weekly "On the Media" program with the guy who runs this contest. Some are bad because of poor translation; others because of plain old poor writing. Have a look:

http://makeashorterlink.com/?O6622149

Dear AS: I looked at one, and did not see anything risible about it. I used to write manuals, and believe me it is hard to make them do the job and still be readable. You are in the middle between the union and the company. No way to be short and sweet without being vulnerable to the lawyers.

Which one did you look at, Dr. Bill?

The Winning Entry = apparently supposed to be the worst of the lot. I sure as hell didn't want to read them all.

supposed to be the worst of the lot

I agree with you, Dr. Bill. If that's the worst they could find the quality of manuals must of is gone way up in the last ten years or so. It ain't no paragon of great writing, but it ain't no total disaster, neither.

the "winner" really is all-around bad -- it got off to a(n) horrible start by listing "rules" such as "stealing" and "absenteeism". there should be some examples of just what it is the employee is expected to steal! :-/

http://home.mn.rr.com/wwftd/

all-around bad

Maybe, but it's bad at such a low level that it hardly seems worth recognizing it for anything.