Since 2012, The Skeptic has had the pleasure of awarding the Ockham Awards – our annual awards celebrating the very best work from within the skeptical community. The awards were founded because we wanted to draw attention to those people who work hard to get a great message out. The Ockhams recognise the effort and time that have gone into the community’s favourite campaigns, activism, blogs, podcasts, and outstanding contributors to the skeptical cause.
Nominations for the 2024 Ockham Awards are now open! Simply complete the nomination form to submit your nominations.
Last year’s Ockham winner was Knowledge Fight, the long-running podcast that dissects right-wing propagandist Alex Jones, and through that lens attempts to shine light on the larger community of extremists he exists within. Created in January 2017 by Dan Friesen and Jordan Holmes, it has amassed a sizeable fanbase, and has become an essential repository for understanding the conspiracy theory ecosystem of Alex Jones and Infowars.
Other past Ockham winners include the BBC’s disinformation unit, Dr Elizabeth Bik, Dr Natália Pasternak, Professor Edzard Ernst, the European Skeptics Podcast, Britt Hermes, and more.
While we recognise the best in skepticism, our awards are also an opportunity to highlight the danger posed by promoters of pseudoscience with our Rusty Razor award. The Rusty Razor is designed to spotlight individuals or organisations who have been prominent promoters of unscientific ideas within the last year.
Last year’s Rusty Razor went to Dr Aseem Malhotra, a cardiologist who advocates against the use of statins, promotes a fad diet he claimed could prevent 20 million deaths per year from cardiovascular disease, and has been a prolific and highly influential voice scaremongering about the alleged dangers of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Previous Rusty Razor winners have included the Global Warming Policy Foundation for their promotion of climate change denialism, Dr Mike Yeadon for his anti-vaccination scaremongering, Dr Didier Raoult for his promotion of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID-19, Andrew Wakefield for his ongoing promotion of anti-vaxx misinformation, and Gwyneth Paltrow for her pseudoscience-peddling wellness empire, Goop.
One of the most important elements of our awards are that the nominations come from you – the skeptical community. It is that time again, we ask you to tell us who you think deserves to receive the Skeptic of the Year award, and who deserves to receive the Rusty Razor.
Nominations are open now and will close on October 2nd. Winners will be chosen by our editorial board, and they will be announced at QED in Manchester on October 19th.
