booby prize

American  

noun

1. a prize given in good-natured ridicule to the worst player or team in a game or contest.

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booby prize British  

noun

1. a mock prize given to the person having the lowest score or giving the worst performance in a competition

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Etymology

Origin of booby prize

First recorded in 1885–90

Example Sentences

I really appreciate it in the book that you were not going to talk about becoming the "wise, sage woman" like it's some kind of booby prize.

From Salon

This GOP lawmaker gets the booby prize for moral imbecility.

From Washington Post

I think that the situation is exactly the opposite, and that a “diminished” girl does not go running through the town, under so many horse noses, to find a booby prize.

From The New Yorker

Any other week, “Gettin’ the Band Back Together” would have locked up Broadway’s booby prize, but it looks positively adequate by comparison with “Pretty Woman.”

From The Wall Street Journal

A statuette, in other words, for those movies not good enough to qualify as best picture; a booby prize, akin to giving the uncoordinated nerdy kid a gong simply for showing up on sports day.

From The Guardian