Pigasus Awards

The Pigasus Awards are given by James Randi for paranormal phenomena. There are four categories:

1. To the Scientist who said or did the silliest thing relating to parapsychology
2. To the Funding Organization that supports the most useless parapsychological study
3. To the Media outlet that reported as fact the most outrageous paranormal claim
4. To the "Psychic" performer who fools the greatest number of people with the least effort

The award was once called the Uri Geller award, presumably in honour of his fantastic achievement in category 4.

James Randi explains the awarding procedure: "The awards are announced via telepathy, the winners are allowed to predict their winning, and the Flying Pig trophies are sent via psychokinesis. We send; if they don't receive, that's probably due to their lack of paranormal talent."

Sadly, the most recent (2005) category 2 winner was the Auckland City Council, for a NZ$2,500 grant to the Foundation For Spiritualist Mediums "to teach people to communicate with the dead". Proof that it's not only America where nut jobs end up in charge.