For the Royal Society award, see Darwin Medal. For the film, see The Darwin Awards.
Darwin Awards
Type of site
Humor
Owner
Wendy Northcutt
URL
darwinawards.com
Commercial
Yes
Launched
1993; 31 years ago (1993)
The Darwin Awards are a rhetorical tongue-in-cheek honor that originated in Usenet newsgroup discussions around 1985. They recognize individuals who have supposedly contributed to human evolution by selecting themselves out of the gene pool by dying or becoming sterilized by their own actions.
The project became more formalized with the creation of a website in 1993, followed by a series of books starting in 2000 by Wendy Northcutt. The criterion for the awards states: "In the spirit of Charles Darwin, the Darwin Awards commemorate individuals who protect our gene pool by making the ultimate sacrifice of their own lives. Darwin Award winners eliminate themselves in an extraordinarily idiotic manner, thereby improving our species' chances of long-term survival."[1]
Accidental self-sterilization also qualifies, but the site notes: "Of necessity, the award is usually bestowed posthumously." The candidate is disqualified, though, if "innocent bystanders" are killed in the process, as they might have contributed positively to the gene pool. The logical problem presented by award winners who may have already reproduced is not addressed in the selection process owing to the difficulty of ascertaining whether or not a person has children; the Darwin Award rules state that the presence of offspring does not disqualify a nominee.[2]
^Northcutt, Wendy. "History & Rules". darwinawards.com. Retrieved August 14, 2012.
^"Darwin Awards: History and Rules". darwinawards.com. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
by Wendy Northcutt. The criterion for the awards states: "In the spirit of Charles Darwin, the DarwinAwards commemorate individuals who protect our gene...
referred to as the "Ikea Monkey" Darwin (unit), a unit of evolutionary change DarwinAwards, tongue-in-cheek awards for people who remove themselves from...
Darwinism is a theory of biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others, stating that all species of organisms...
Susannah Darwin (née Wedgwood, 3 January 1765 – 15 July 1817) was the wife of Robert Darwin, a wealthy doctor, and mother of naturalist Charles Darwin, and...
Emma Darwin (née Wedgwood; 2 May 1808 – 2 October 1896) was an English woman who was the wife and first cousin of Charles Darwin. They were married on...
The account of the JATO Rocket Car was one of the original DarwinAwards winners: a man who supposedly met his death in a spectacular manner after mounting...
Hyneman and Adam Savage portray two army junk-sellers in the film The DarwinAwards. They appear during the story of the rocket-car, which they partially...
himself on a 2005 episode of the HBO series Entourage. He appeared in The DarwinAwards, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival the day after his death...
company Segway Inc., he did not invent the Segway. DarwinAwards – Rhetorical, Tongue-in-cheek award List of entertainers who died during a performance...
The Darwin Rocksitters Club was an Australian rocksitting club. Formed in Darwin in the Northern Territory in 1974 by a group of journalists at East Point...
Arbus. In the same year, he also appeared in Friends with Money and The DarwinAwards. In 2007, he had a small role in the film National Treasure: Book of...
was a member of the influential Darwin–Wedgwood family. Darwin was born in Lichfield, the son of physician Erasmus Darwin and his first wife, Mary Howard...
Keith Douglas at the Old Vic. In 2006, he appeared in the films The DarwinAwards and Goodbye Bafana. Goodbye Bafana. Fiennes portrayed James Gregory...
Sir Horace Darwin, KBE FRS (13 May 1851 – 22 September 1928) was an English engineer specializing in the design and manufacture of precision scientific...
Darwin: Charles Darwin National Park Charles Darwin Foundation Charles Darwin Research Station Charles Darwin School Charles Darwin University Darwin...
film La torcedura in which he played the lead, and appeared in The DarwinAwards, an independent film directed by Finn Taylor. In animation work, Valderrama...
Charles Robert Darwin FRS FRGS FLS FZS JP (/ˈdɑːrwɪn/ DAR-win; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist and biologist, widely...
original on September 29, 2019. Retrieved September 29, 2019. "The DarwinAwards (2006)". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on September 29...
Apparent death Chinese burial money Coins for the dead Dark tourism DarwinAwards Death and culture Death anniversary Death anxiety Death deity Personification...
"1997 MTV Movie Awards". MTV. Archived from the original on June 6, 2004. Retrieved April 16, 2024. "Gotham Independent Film Awards". The Gotham Film...
shark attacks. The deaths have also at times been associated with "DarwinAwards". In the Snowy Escape expansion pack to life-simulation video game The...
Mikkelson, Barbara; Mikkelson, David P. (1996). "1996 DarwinAwards: Lawyer Aloft". DarwinAwards. Archived from the original on September 3, 2011. Retrieved...
Night, Will Gardner on The Good Wife, which earned him two Primetime Emmy Award nominations, and his early work as Knox Overstreet in Dead Poets Society...
Ig Nobel Prize winners DarwinAwards Golden Raspberry Awards – awards for bad movies Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest – an award for bad writing Bookseller/Diagram...
Plot Against America. List of awards and nominations received by Winona Ryder "The 17th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards". Screen Actors Guild. Retrieved...
further two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and a Television Critics Association Award. Margulies also had roles...
Global Information