CNN Announces New Hero Award For Most Tragically Depressing Nomination

ATLANTA, GA - After 17 years of honoring ordinary Americans who do extraordinary things, CNN has decided to introduce a new hero award that recognizes the nominee with the most tragic and depressing backstory.

"Every year, we are blown away by the amazing things everyday heroes are doing," said CNN president Walter Denson. "On the other hand, we get nominations from people who are just in a really dark place. These stories always involve sick kids or families being evicted or some kind of terminal illness. While "heroes" like our past award winners are saving puppies or building schools in Africa, these nominees are just hanging on by a thread. It's so sad and pathetic that we feel we need to give those nominees some kind of special recognition."

The new award will be presented along with the other CNN Hero awards but will go to the nominee whose story is the most tear-jerking. "Maybe it's a mother of five withStage 4 cancer and no husband and no home and all the kids are blind and two of them have cancer as well," Denson explained. "We'll salute the amazing spirit of that mother while also recognizing the extraordinary efforts of another mother who, despite her own dire circumstances, was able to take care of an autistic child and foster three other kids who all happened to have cancer. That's going to be really tough to top, though."

Viewers are encouraged to submit nominations for the annual CNN Hero Awards as well as any nominations that may come to mind for the new Tragically Depressing Award.