Pigasus Award

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Pigasus Award
PigasusAward.jpg
Pigasus Award
Awarded forParanormal fraud
CountryUnited States
Presented byJames Randi
First award1982
Website http://web.randi.org/

The Pigasus Award is the name of an annual tongue-in-cheek award, which was presented by the late James Randi, a skeptic. The purpose of the award was to expose parapsychological, paranormal, and psychic frauds whom Randi had noted over the previous year. [1] Randi usually made his announcements of the awards from the previous year on April 1 (April Fools' Day).

Contents

History

The award was originally called the Uri trophy, after Uri Geller, and was first announced in the appendix of Randi's book Flim-Flam! . The 1982 edition lists the award's "recipients" in 1979, 1980 and 1981.

In Flim-Flam!, Randi states:

The trophy consists of a stainless-steel spoon bent in a pleasing curve (paranormally, of course) and supported by a base of plastic. Please note that the base is flimsy and quite transparent. I am personally responsible for the nomination of the candidates. The sealed envelopes are read by me, while blindfolded, at the official announcement ceremony on April 1. Any baseless claims are rationalized in approved parapsychological fashion, and the results will be published immediately without being checked in any way. Winners are notified telepathically and are allowed to predict their victory in advance.

(Randi 1982, pp. 327f)

The bent spoon trophy is a reference to Geller's claimed spoon-bending abilities.

The logo of a winged pig was designed for Randi's website by German artist Jutta Degener in 1996. [2] The name "Pigasus" was chosen by Randi from suggestions e-mailed to him. [3] The term is a portmanteau pun combining the word pig with the mythological Pegasus , a reference to the expression "when pigs fly".

Randi did not present any Uri Award for a number of years after its inception in Flim-Flam! In 1997, it was revived and the name was changed to "Pigasus" after the winged pig. Randi announced the recipients through his e-newsletter, SWIFT!, in which he said "The awards are announced via telepathy, the winners are allowed to predict their winning, and the Flying Pig trophies are sent via psychokinesis. We send; if they don't receive, that's probably due to their lack of paranormal talent." [4]

There were no Pigasus Awards for 1997, 1998, 2000, and 2002.

Categories

Flim-Flam! specifies that the winner of the Pigasus Award falls in one of four possible categories:

  1. The scientist who said or did the silliest thing relating to parapsychology in the preceding twelve months.
  2. The funding organization that supports the most useless parapsychological study during the year.
  3. The media outlet that reported as fact the most outrageous paranormal claim.
  4. The "psychic" performer who fools the greatest number of people with the least effort in that twelve-month period. [5]

The 2003 Pigasus Awards featured only categories 1 and 4. [4] The 2005 awards added a fifth category "for the most persistent refusal to face reality". [6]

Recipients

Category 1 – Scientist

Category 2 – Funding

Category 3 – Media

Category 4 – Performer

Category 5 – Refusal to face reality

See also

References

  1. "Pigasus Awards". Randi.org. 2008-10-30. Retrieved 2012-04-14.
  2. The Randi Hotline – 1996: Contest time!
  3. The Randi Hotline – 1996: The Name of the Pig
  4. 1 2 The 2003 Pigasus Awards
  5. Randi (1982) , p. 327
  6. "James Randi's Swift". randi.org. March 31, 2006.
  7. 1 2 3 4 James, Randi (April 1, 1996). "The Pigasus Awards: 1 April 1997". James Randi Educational Foundation . Retrieved January 5, 2013.
  8. Flamm, Bruce (Sep 2004). "The Columbia University 'Miracle' Study: Flawed and Fraud". Skeptical Inquirer. Retrieved 29 March 2012.
  9. 1 2 3 4 James, Randi (April 1, 2007). "The 11th Annual Pigasus Awards: Awarded April 1, 2007". James Randi Educational Foundation . Retrieved 2007-04-01.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 Van Bockstaele, Bart B. (5 April 2009). "The 2008 Pigasus Awards have been announced". DigitalJournal. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 Mestel, Rosie (April 1, 2011). "Dr. Oz, Andrew Wakefield and others, um, 'honored' by James Randi". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 2, 2011.
  12. 1 2 3 4 Moye, David (1 April 2011). "Skeptic Mocks NASA Researcher With 'Flying Pig Award' for Finding Life on Meteorites". AOLnews. Archived from the original on 2 June 2011. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
  13. 1 2 Plait, Phil. "2011 JREF Pigasus awards". Discover Magazine. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 "2012 Pigasus Awards Announcement". YouTube. 30 March 2012. Archived from the original on 2021-12-13. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 D.J. Grothe. "JREF's Pigasus Awards "Honors" Dubious Peddlers of "Woo" (VIDEO)" . Retrieved 23 February 2015.
  16. Davis, Eric (2003-11-25). "Teleportation Physics Study" (PDF). fas.org. Federation of American Scientists. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-06-28. Retrieved 2022-09-19. This study was tasked with the purpose of collecting information describing the teleportation of material objects, providing a description of teleportation as it occurs in physics, its theoretical and experimental status, and a projection of potential applications.
  17. Fisher, David (15 May 2005). "$2500 grant helps to talk to the dead". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
  18. 1 2 3 4 Barrett, Stephen. "Consumer Health Digest #11-07". National Council Against Health Fraud. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
  19. 1 2 Perry, Susan (4 April 2011). "Andrew Wakefield, Dr. Oz, others given 'awards' for promoting medical nonsense". MinnPost. Archived from the original on 19 June 2011. Retrieved 25 June 2011.