Australian Skeptics' Prize for Critical Thinking

New Skeptics Prize Announcement
April 2006

After a ten year association with the Australian Museum Eureka Prizes, Australian Skeptics has, with regret, decided to withdraw its sponsorship and to institute its own Skeptics prize. There are several reasons for this decision:

• initially AS was one of six sponsors but at the 2005 Eurekas we were one of 23, with a consequent reduction in the impact of our message;
• as a sponsor, we have always paid an extra contribution to cover the Museum’s administrative costs - over the years this has increased, while the prize money has remained static. When we were informed that, for 2006, the administration contribution would exceed the Eureka prize money by a considerable sum we decided that, as an organisation with limited resources, we could no longer be a sponsor.

We still regard the Eureka Prizes as a very important vehicle for the promotion Australian science and wish them all the best for the future.

Australian Skeptics' Prize for Critical Thinking

The Australian Skeptics Prize for Critical Thinking will have similar criteria to those used for the Skeptics Eureka Prize. It will be awarded for work that investigates conventional wisdoms and beliefs that owe little or nothing to the rigours of scientific method, that promotes rational thinking in the community, or reflects the importance that Australian Skeptics place on critical thinking in the education of young people.

Entries are invited for work in the physical or life sciences, humanities and media, that encourage the rigorous and critical investigation of issues, ideas or beliefs that have no rational basis - in effect, skeptical analysis of pseudoscientific claims.

Work submitted for this prize may include the contribution of teachers at all levels of education, who have devised or instituted innovative programs that encourage critical thinking above and beyond normal curriculum requirements. Work submitted must have been undertaken/ published/broadcast in Australia by an Australian citizen or permanent resident within the five years prior to the closing date for entries.

Closing date for entries will be two calendar months before the Convention.

Members of state committees and members of their immediate families will not be eligible for consideration.

Judging will be carried out by a panel nominated by Australian Skeptics.

Judging Criteria

Entries will be assessed against the criteria of:

• originality;
• the extent of “critical thinking” involved - ie the extent to which the work submitted challenges/ examines conventional wisdom, or beliefs that have no rational or scientific basis, or promotes such attitudes among the public, especially young people;
• scientific excellence and reasoned exposition.

Presentation

The Australian Skeptics Prize for Critical Thinking will be $10,000. The winner of the 2006 Australian Skeptics Prize will be announced and the cheque presented at a dinner held in conjunction with the Australian Skeptics Annual Convention in Melbourne on 18-19 November.

Appeal

As this will be a new venture for Australian Skeptics, we have not yet set all the details in stone and we welcome input, including refinements of the criteria, from our members.

Of particular importance are methods of publicising the availability of the Australian Skeptics Prize for Critical Thinking. Many of our subscribers belong to relevant professional associations, societies or institutes (eg, science or history teachers assns, Institutes of physics, biology, geology, engineering, medical, pharmaceutical, psychological assns and the like). Most of these bodies will have web sites or journals and might well be amenable to advertising the Skeptics prize to their members. We rely on our subscribers to make us aware of such bodies, as soon as possible.

Details of the prize and entry forms will be on our web site in the near future.