Home > Darwin Awards
Named in honor of Charles Darwin, a Darwin Award is a manifestation of Internet humor, a dubious/ sarcastic/ cynical honor awarded to those members of the species Homo sapiens who have improved the human gene pool by "removing themselves from it in a spectacularly stupid manner." The more imbecilic the loss of reproductive capability, i.e. by killing or sterilizing oneself, the better the chances of an individual receiving the prize, thereby removing an inept set of genes from the gene pool. While most Darwin winners receive the award posthumously, death is not required as the awardee has only to remove himself from the gene pool. In some cases, the winners have rendered themselves unable to procreate, but are still alive.
One must behave in an extraordinarily idiotic manner, such as juggling hand grenades ( Croatia, 2001), jumping out of a plane to film skydivers while not wearing a parachute yourself ( North Carolina, 1987), or using a lighter to illuminate a fuel tank to make sure it contains no inflammable vapors ( São Paulo, 2002).
Honorable Mentions can go to those who did not completely succeed in removing themselves from the gene pool, by no fault of their own. Their foolish and dangerous acts are worth mentioning, if only to keep others from standing near them during their next attempt. Some of these include a man chasing a beer can and getting hit by a Chevy truck ( Texas, 2002), people petting a dead whale's feeders (and even getting on the whale to pet the sharks) amongst a shark feeding frenzy ( Australia, 2001), & two people trying to destroy an arcade machine but burning themselves (Unknown area, 2002).
Although some of the better-known Darwin Award recipients have proven to be fictitious, such as the JATO Rocket CarThe famous JATO Rocket Car story was one of the original Darwin Awards winners but has now been debunked as an urban legend, though the staff of the Darwin Awards decided it was such a funny story to "grandfather" it in and let it keep its award. It was o, the exploits of the majority of Award winners have been independently verified from original source material.
The whole process is overseen by the project's creator, Wendy NorthcuttWendy Northcutt studied molecular biology at UC Berkeley, worked in a neuroscience research laboratory at Stanford, and later joined a biotech startup developing cancer and diabetes therapeutics. All this merely served as a prelude to her true calling as, a.k.a. Darwin.
1 Rules
1.1 Requirements
The 5 requirements for a Darwin are
- Reproduction - Nominee must be dead or sterile.
- A disputed issue, due to cloningCloning is the process of creating an identical copy of an original. A clone in the biological sense, therefore, is a multi-cellular organism that is genetically identical to another living organism. Sometimes this can refer to "natural" clones made eithe, donation of reproductive cellsGametes also known as sex cells, germ cells, or spores—are the specialized cells that come together during fertilization (conception) in organisms that reproduce sexually. In those species that produce two morphologically distinct types of gametes, and in, and celibacy. Should the elderly be allowed to win, their death having no impact on the gene pool? The general rule of thumb is that if the candidate no longer has the physical wherewithal to breed with a mate on an otherwise uninhabited island, they are out of the gene pool.
- Excellence - Astounding misapplication of judgment.
- The candidate's idiocy must be unique and sensational. Someone who goes to bed with a lit cigarette in their mouth is not eligible. Someone who asks their friend to shoot them with cigarette butts ( Woodbine, New JerseyWoodbine is a borough located in Cape May County, New Jersey. As of the 2000 census, the borough had a total population of 2,716. Geography Woodbine is located at 39°13'59" North, 74°48'37" West (39. 233087, -74. According to the United States Census Bure, 2002) is.
- Self-Selection - Cause of one's own demise.
- A hapless bystander being hit by an anvil dropped from a skyscraper has suffered from bad luck. If you are hit by the anvil you rigged above your balcony to kill those squawking pigeons, you are eligible for a Darwin Award. The death of innocent bystanders rules one out for a Darwin Award. There is no award for taking someone else out of the gene pool in an extraordinarily stupid manner (even if the bystander did have some genes in common with the idiot). Thus, the Camden, New Jersey man who ran over a nun while trying to smoke crack cocaine and drive with his feet at the same time will never be given an award. However, the Virginia murderer who wrote a gloating letter of confession to the prosecutor's office "to show you how stupid y'all are" after his acquittal is, because the letter was not the cause of the girl's death.
- Maturity - Capable of sound judgment.
- The nominee must be at least 16 years of age and free of mental handicaps.
- The story must be backed up by reputable newspaper articles, confirmed television reports, and/or responsible eyewitnesses.
Also, the nominee must have been discovered the year of nomination. For example, if the winner of a hide-and-seek contest five years ago disappeared, they must be nominated within one year of their skeleton being found in a nearby narrow well.
