Hi I’m Paige. Welcome to the salon. This is Mental Floss on YouTube and did you know
that every year, the state of Vermont hosts the Odor Eaters Rotten Sneaker Contest? The
competition is for kids between the ages of 5 and 15, and all you have to do to win is
have the smelliest shoes. The judges take how worn the shoes are into consideration
as well. And the winner receives $2,500.
And that’s the first of many of the weird awards you can win that I’m going to tell
you about today!
You’ve probably heard of the Darwin Awards, which honor people who have removed themselves
from the human gene pool by either dying or self-sterilizing in a ridiculous way.
Then, of course, there are the Golden Raspberry Awards, or Razzies, which honor the worst
films of the year. Typically, winners don’t accept their awards in person, but a couple
stars have, like Sandra Bullock who won Worst Actress for All About Steve and Halle Berry
for Catwoman.
This role has ‘Oscar’ written all over it.
Every year, James Randi gives out “The Pigasus Award.” Randi has become a famous skeptic
of the paranormal after retiring from his career in magic, as The Amazing Randi, at
the age of 60. The winner of the Pigasus Award is whoever Randi considers to be a “parapsychological
fraud.”
Similarly, the group Australian Skeptics has been giving out the Bent Spoon Award since
1982. According to the group, the award is “presented to the perpetrator of the most
preposterous piece of paranormal or pseudoscientific piffle.”
If you love magic, though, don’t worry. The Merlin Awards are given out by the International
Magicians Society for achievements in the field. Past winners include David Copperfield,
Siegfried and Roy, and Criss Angel.
Then of course there are the Psychic of the Year Awards, given out by the Australian Psychics
Association. They’re voted on by the members of the association, which makes me wonder...
why do they even vote if they can predict the winner?
Every year, the website “We Love This Book” gives a book “The Diagram Prize for Oddest
Title.” Past winners have included How to Avoid Huge Ships, Goblinproofing One’s Chicken
Coop, and Greek Rural Postmen and their Cancellation Numbers.
The “Bad Sex in Fiction Award” is another self-explanatory one. It’s given out every
year by the Literary Review. In 2010, author Rowan Somerville won for a scene in his book,
The Shape of Her. He accepted his award, saying, “There is nothing more English than bad
sex. So on behalf of the nation, I thank you.”
The Golden Collar Awards are like the dog version of the Academy Awards. Dogs can win
for being the best in one of five entertainment categories: Theatrical Film, Foreign Film,
Television Series, Reality Television Series, and Direct-To-DVD Film.
Since 1903, the Tour de France has acknowledged the “Lantern Rouge” -- the person who
comes in last place. The distinction is named for the red lantern that typically hangs on
the caboose of a train. Historically, this person has made so much money for doing appearances
after the race that people actually have competed for last place.
Speaking of trains, the trade journal Modern Railroad has been giving out a “Railroader
of the Year” award since 1964. It’s given to an excellent worker in the industry.
And the trade journal Railway Age gives out the “Regional Railroad of the Year Award”
for railroads with particularly good customer service and innovation. Basically, if you
feel like your profession doesn’t have enough awards... look into the railroad industry.
Another VERY specific award: the Food Photographer of the Year Award. They take applications
and had over 5,500 of them in 2013. The cool part: the competition partners with charities
like Action Against Hunger.
In 2003, Cabinet magazine held a contest for the “Most Phallic Building.” Here are
some of the nominees. But the winner was the Ypsilanti Water Tower.
The Bad Writing Competition is run by the Journal of Philosophy and Literature. People
nominate one to two sentences of bad writing from either a scholarly book or journal. Then,
the heads of the publication choose winners.
Similarly, The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest asks people to write the worst opening sentence
for a novel they can think of. It’s held by the English Department at San Jose State
University. Bulwer-Lytton, by the way, wrote the novel Paul Clifford, which opens with,
“It was a dark and stormy night…”
The Ig Nobel Prizes have been around since 1991. They honor scientific “achievements
that make people laugh, and then think.” Past winners have included the inventor of
the pink plastic flamingo, a person who wrote a medical report titled "Injuries Due to Falling
Coconuts,” and a man who wrote his PhD thesis on the sociology of Canadian doughnut stores.
According to the website of the Big Brother Awards International, they give their annual
awards to ”government agencies, private companies and individuals who have excelled
in the violation of our privacy.”
The website Mother Reader gives out the Weird-Ass Picture Book Awards for the strangest stories,
illustrations, and cover art in picture books.
The Australian “Ernie Awards” are given to the most misogynistic speaker of the year.
They’re named after former Australian Workers’ Union secretary Ernie Ecob. According to Meredith
Burgmann who founded the awards, "Ecob, who was head of the [sheep] shearers' union, has
had his name permanently etched in the annals of Australian history with his infamous comment
that 'women only want to become shearers for the sex.’”
Similarly, the Plain English Campaign gives an annual Foot in Mouth Award to the public
figure who said the most embarrassing thing that year. In 2008, they gave George W. Bush
a “Lifetime Achievement Award.”
Finally, I return to the salon to tell you that the Stella Awards were given out between
2002 and 2007 for the most “wild, outrageous, or ridiculous lawsuits.” The last winner
before the awards stopped was Roy L. Pearson, an administrative law judge from Washington
DC, who sued a small dry cleaner business FOR $65 MILLION for losing a pair of his pants.
Thanks for watching Mental Floss on YouTube, which is made with the help of all these nice
people. Again, I’m Paige and if you want to check out my channel you can find it here.
Don't forget to be awesome!