The Six Most Ridiculous Awards (That Nobody Wants to Win…)

1. Ig Nobel Prize

Ig Nobel Prizes are a parody to the Nobel Prize. These are given each year in early October to the people who have done research on silly and useless things. Ig Nobel Prizes have been given since 1991 in 10 categories that include Medicine, Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Linguistics, Literature, Peace, Nutrition, Economics and Aviation.

The prizes are presented to awardees by genuine Nobel Laureates at a ceremony. In that ceremony, awardees have the opportunity to explain their achievements to the public. If such explanations become too longwinded, they are interrupted by the cries of a little girl named Miss Sweety Poo, who repeatedly cries out “Please stop! I’m bored” in a high pitched voice.

Recent Ig Nobel Prize Winners In Some Categories

• In Medicine: Brian Witcombe from Gloucester won for his research on “Sword Swallowing and Its Side Effects” and his results include “sore throats”
• In Linguistics: Juan Manuel Toro, Josp B Tobalon and Nuria Sebastian-Galles of the University of Barcelona won this award for showing that rats sometimes cannot tell the difference between a person speaking Japanese backwards and a person speaking Dutch backwards.
• Ig Nobel Peace Prize was given to the Air Force Wright Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio for its research on a gay bomb which could cause enemy soldiers to become irresistible to one another and lose the will to fight. The Labratory spent $7.5 million in the U.S. for this research.

2. Golden Raspberry (Razzie) Awards

Golden Raspberry Awards are parody to the Oscar Awards. They have been awarding since 1981 to the actors who have shown worst acting. The nominations are made by public one day before Oscar nominations and awards are presented one day before the Oscar ceremony.

The awardees win a trophy that costs $4.97 statuettes in the form of raspberry spray-painted gold and mounted on a plastic base.

Recent Razzie Award Winners In Some Categories

• Eddie Murphy was the first person ever to win three acting Razzies in one year. He won as worst actor for the geeky title role, supporting actress as his tubby, shrewish wife and supporting actor as a stereotyped Asian man in “Norbit”.
• “I Know Who Killed Me” set a new Razzies record with eight awards, including worst screen couple for Lindsay Lohan in her double role. This movie also won director (Chris Sivertson), screen play (Jeff Hammond), horror movie, and remake or rip-off.

3. Pigasus Award

The Pigasus Awards was founded by Australian James Randi and are to be given for paranormal fraud. The first award was given in 1982, but have not been done every year. There are five categories: science, funding, media, performance and refusal to face reality.

The logo of the award is designed with a winged pig and pigasus means “when pigs fly”. The names of award winners are announced usually on 1st April. The awardees win a trophy that consists of a stainless-steel spoon bent in a pleasing curve and supported by a plastic base. As always, the awards were announced via telepathy, winners were allowed to predict their victories, and the Flying Pig trophies were sent via psychokinesis.

Recent Pigasus Award Winners in Some Categories

• In the science category UK biologist Rupert Sheldrake won this award, for his “telephone telepathy” claims related to “morphic resonance.”
• In funding, an award was earned by the Templeton Foundation, who spent $2.4 million and ten years on a ridiculous study.
• In media, an award was earned by U.S. TV host Montel Williams, for his persistence promoting “psychic” Sylvia Browne, in spite of knowing exactly what she’s doing.

4. Foot in Mouth Award

The Foot in Mouth Award is awarded each year by the British Plain English Campaign for a baffling comment by a public figure. This award was created in 1993. In 1995 and 1996 no body won this award. Here’s a statement given at a press conference by United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who won this award in 2003.

“Reports that say that something hasn’t happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns- the ones we don’t know we don’t know”.