The award Das Goldene Brett vorm Kopf (English translation: "''The Golden Blockhead''", literal translation "''The Golden Board in Front of the Head''") is a negative prize awarded by the Society for the Scientific Investigation of Pseudosciences (GWUP – Gesellschaft zur wissenschaftlichen Untersuchung von Parawissenschaften). The prize is organised by the Viennese regional group, the Society for Critical Thinking (GkD – Gesellschaft für kritisches Denken). The jury considers the "most astonishing pseudo-scientific nuisance" of the year in German-speaking countries. The award was presented for the first time in 2011 during the Sceptics Conference in Vienna. In 2016, the prize was presented simultaneously for the first time in Vienna and Hamburg (by the Hamburg sceptics of the GWUP).

Process

Candidates are nominated via a form. A jury of experts selects the three top candidates among the nominees. The assessment is based on the following: degree of deviance, resistance to criticism, commercial interest, radius of action, pseudoscience, and hazard potential.Website goldenesbrett.at – Kriterien und Jury
16. Oktober 2012 In the course of a public award ceremony, three candidates are presented by a eulogist in an ironic speech. The three candidates can comment on their nomination. Thereafter the winner is announced, and they are given a golden statue with a board in front of the head and have the option of making an acceptance speech. In 2012, the jury of experts included

Heinz Oberhummer Heinz Oberhummer was an Austrian physicist and skeptic. Biography Heinz Oberhummer was born in Bischofshofen and grew up in Obertauern, Austria. He studied physics at the University of Graz and the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. He l ...

(physicist), Werner Gruber (physicist),

Johannes Grenzfurthner Johannes Grenzfurthner (; born 1975 in Vienna) is an Austrian artist, filmmaker, writer, actor, curator, theatre director, performer and lecturer. Grenzfurthner is the founder, conceiver and artistic director of ''monochrom'', an international art ...

(artist) and the eulogists Mario Sixtus (journalist), El Awadalla (writer) and Niko Alm (entrepreneur and activist). In 2012, an additional "lifetime achievement prize" was awarded for the first time. This prize recognizes a person who, according to the jury, "made a name with particularly impressive resistance to scientific facts over decades". The award was granted in 2012 by the Austrian Consumer Information Consortium (Verein für Konsumenteninformation) and since 2013 by the German Consumers' Union (

Deutscher Konsumentenbund Deutscher Konsumentenbund (German Consumers' Federation) is a European consumer advocacy, consumer advocacy group based in Kassel. It is a non-profit organization and registered with the European Commission to be a consumer rights lobby group with ...

). The Austrian branch of the

Cochrane Collaboration Cochrane (previously known as the Cochrane Collaboration) is a British international charitable organisation formed to organise medical research findings to facilitate evidence-based choices about health interventions involving health profess ...

was a cooperation partner in 2015.

Winners and nominees

Media recognition

Media recognition ranges from numerous mentions in the blogosphere, such as

ScienceBlogs ScienceBlogs is an invitation-only blog network and virtual community that operated initially for almost 12 years, from 2006 to 2017. It was created by Seed Media Group to enhance public understanding of science. Each blog had its own theme, spec ...

(Astrodicticum Simplex, Kritisch gedacht or Fischblog and Mathlog) to Austrian media such as ''

Der Standard ''Der Standard'' is an Austrian daily newspaper published in Vienna. History and profile ''Der Standard'' was founded by Oscar Bronner as a financial newspaper and published its first edition on 19 October 1988. German media company Axel Springe ...

'' ''

Die Presse ''Die Presse'' is a German-language daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vienna, Austria. It is considered a newspaper of record for Austria. History and profile ''Die Presse'' was first printed on 3 July 1848 as a liberal (libertarian)-bourgeoi ...

'',

ORF ORF or Orf may refer to: * Norfolk International Airport, IATA airport code ORF * Observer Research Foundation, an Indian research institute * One Race Films, a film production company founded by Vin Diesel * Open reading frame, a portion of the ...

, ''

News News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the tes ...

'', ''

Heute ''heute'' (; German for ''today'') is a television news program on the German channel ZDF. The main program is broadcast at 19:00, and includes news, with an emphasis on political news from Germany, Europe and the world, plus 'mixed' news from cu ...

'' and ''

Vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character tra ...

''.

References

{{Reflist Austrian awards Ironic and humorous awards