Richard Dawkins Award

Richard Dawkins Award
Photograph of Richard Dawkins Award kept on a red seat.
The 2016 Richard Dawkins Award, presented to Lawrence Krauss
Awarded forPublicly proclaiming "the values of secularism and rationalism, upholding scientific truth wherever it may lead."[1]
Presented byCenter for Inquiry
First awarded2003; 21 years ago (2003)
Currently held by21 individuals
Websitecenterforinquiry.org

The Richard Dawkins Award is an annual prize awarded by the Center for Inquiry (CFI). It was established in 2003 and was initially awarded by the Atheist Alliance of America coordinating with Richard Dawkins and the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science.[1] In 2019, the award was formally moved to CFI. [2] CFI is a US nonprofit organization that variously claims on its website to promote reason, science, freedom of inquiry, and humanist values, or science, reason, and secular values.[3] The award was initially presented by the Atheist Alliance of America to honor an "outstanding atheist", who taught or advocated scientific knowledge and acceptance of nontheism, and raised public awareness.[4] The award is currently presented by the Center for Inquiry to an individual associated with science, scholarship, education, or entertainment, and who "publicly proclaims the values of secularism and rationalism, upholding scientific truth wherever it may lead."[1] They state that the recipient must be approved by Dawkins himself.[1]

The Richard Dawkins Award is named in honor of the British evolutionary biologist. In a 2013 poll conducted by Prospect magazine, Dawkins was ranked first in the list of "world thinkers" rankings. He is famous for his atheistic beliefs,[5] and has written books including The God Delusion and Outgrowing God: A Beginner's Guide.[6][7] The first Richard Dawkins Award was received by James Randi, a magician who investigated and debunked various paranormal claims.[8][9] In 2005, Penn Jillette and Teller, jointly as Penn & Teller, received the award.[10][11] In 2009, Bill Maher received the award; due to his views on vaccines and his criticism of evidence-based medicine, oncologist David Gorski referred to him receiving the award as "inappropriate".[12] In 2020, Javed Akhtar became the first Indian to receive the award.[13] In 2021, Tim Minchin received the award.[14] In 2022, Neil deGrasse Tyson received the award saying it was an honor that he would hold above all others.[15]

  1. ^ a b c d "Richard Dawkins Award". 11 June 2020.
  2. ^ "Richard Dawkins Award Moving to the Center for Inquiry". Center for Inquiry. 16 April 2019. Archived from the original on 2 March 2021. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  3. ^ "About | Center for Inquiry". 17 May 2018.
  4. ^ "The Richards Dawkins Award". Atheist Alliance of America. Archived from the original on 15 January 2022. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  5. ^ Dugdale, John (25 April 2013). "Richard Dawkins Named World's Top Thinker in Poll". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 12 November 2013. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  6. ^ McCrum, Robert (4 April 2016). "The 100 best nonfiction books: No 10 – The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 14 April 2019. Retrieved 6 April 2022.
  7. ^ Burkeman, Oliver (2 October 2019). "This Life and Outgrowing God Review – Heaven, Atheism and What Gives Life Meaning". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 4 September 2021. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  8. ^ "Magicians, Skeptics Share Their Memories of James Randi". Skeptical Inquirer. Vol. 45, no. 1. 2021. ISSN 0194-6730. Archived from the original on 31 October 2021. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference :11 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Collins, Glenn (4 December 1988). "Up to New Tricks". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 9 March 2022. Retrieved 6 April 2022.
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference :5 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Joshi, Namrata (8 June 2020). "Javed Akhtar Becomes First Indian to Receive Richard Dawkins Award". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Archived from the original on 12 August 2021. Retrieved 6 April 2022.
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference :4 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference :12 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).