Announcing: The Cruddy Award

(NOTE: DEADLINE HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO FRIDAY, MARCH 25)

Exes. Most of us have them. Many of us have horror stories about them - from the stuff we put up with while we were with them to the heartstomping breakups. Some of them are scary. Most of them are, with some perspective, funny. One thing is for sure: Most of us think we have the best (or worst, depending) ex story in the world. Well, now's your chance to prove it.

In an homage (this is a classy way of saying rip-off) to The Morning News' recent Tournament of Books, Lindsayism.com and TMFTML are holding the Tournament of Exes. Sixteen stories will be selected and judged by a prestigious panel (okay, basically it's a bunch of bloggers and those guys from The Black Table, who'll pretty much participate in anything) of experts until, round-robin style, the world's worst ex has been determined. That person will be deemed the winner of The Cruddy Award, named after the actor Billy Crudup (only because we like his name, not because of anything that happened in his personal life. Got that, high-powered lawyers?). The long-suffering exee will also win some sort of prize, which we'll announce once we've found something on the street worth giving away. (There is also, of course, the supreme prize of being able to tell your ex that he or she has been declared by the Internet to be the worst ex ever.) Interested in playing? The rules are as follows:

Submit your story of heartbreak and degradation at the hands of an ex to myexsucks@gmail.com by Friday, March 18 at 7pm. Stories can be told in any written form but must be no more than 200 words. Please do not use the name of your ex - that's just pathetic. We'll select the best sixteen stories (or the first sixteen, depending on how lazy we feel) and send them off to our judges. The tournament will begin on Monday, March 21, at The Cruddy Award. Each round will be posted and judged here. Judges, their immediately families, and the actress Mary Louise Parker are prohibited from participating.