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About the WA Skeptics Awards
for writing critically on any strange belief

"To me truth is precious... I should rather be right and stand alone than run with the multitude and be wrong".
From a 1931 booklet by Charles de Ford of the USA in which he proves the earth is flat.

Since 2006 the annual WA Skeptics Awards for Young Critical Writers have shown that students enjoy learning how to deal with strange beliefs. They have fun, they learn a lot, there are no restrictions on subject choice, and the Awards fit in well with classroom activities. Entry is free. Students can enter individually or as a group whether working alone or in a classroom. Resources are provided online, so when the work is part of a classroom activity the demands on a teacher are minimal. The Awards have been well received by students, parents, and teachers -- for a selection of their views see Critical Thinking in the Classroom.

Be a mythbuster! Open to all WA students in years 8-12. Write critically on any strange belief. Give the evidence for and against. Include your own test or survey. Joint entries welcome. Entry is free. Be rewarded! All entrants achieving merit receive $200 and a certificate, and the school library receives a skeptic book and a year's subscription to the Skeptic magazine. Deadline 30 June each year Most entries arrive in the last few days.

Strange beliefs
People often believe in strange, unlikely things. Some strange beliefs are true -- stones fall from the sky, continents move, space is curved. Other strange beliefs are not true even though millions of people have believed in them -- witches on broomsticks, sea serpents, a flat earth, bloodletting cures illness, magnets cure backpain, sleeping in moonlight sends you mad, black cats are lucky (or unlucky depending on who you believe), 13 is unlucky (but not in China and Japan where the unlucky number is 4).

True or false? Meet the challenge! Many popular beliefs and claims are strange, such as astrology, auras, channelling, crystal power, ESP, faith healing, ghosts, homeopathy, intelligent design, iridology, Moon landing hoax, out-of-body experiences, palmistry, poltergeists, pyramid power, reincarnation, spoonbending, UFOs, water divining, claims that violence in films and TV does not produce real-life violence, magnets help you sleep better, GM food is bad for you, psychics can solve crimes, truth is just a matter of opinion, hydrogen will replace fossil fuels as an energy source. True or false? Finding the facts is not easy. Meet the challenge and gain an Award!

Are you a critical writer?
Critical writers ask inconvenient questions. Not what is X but what is the evidence for X? What is its nature? How can we be sure? Critical writers get their parents to ask not what they learnt at school today but what questions they asked. Critical writers ask inconvenient questions, ignore opinions, and follow wherever the facts may lead.

What successful entrants receive The annual WA Skeptics Awards for Young Critical Writers is not a competition and there is no fixed number of Awards. Each year all entries achieving merit receive $200 and a signed Certificate of Merit framed ready for display. Entries not achieving full merit status but deserving recognition receive a signed Honourable Mention. Schools with successful entries receive for their library a skeptic book chosen from the world's best, and a year's subscription to the national skeptic magazine (see below), which each year features a summary of the entries. Awards are presented in Perth by a prominent skeptic, usually in August, or are posted to entrants unable to attend.

the Skeptic is the national skeptic magazine published quarterly by Australian Skeptics Inc, founded in 1980.
It is noted for its humour, diversity of topic, and a $100,000 prize (as yet unclaimed) for proof of paranormal ability.
It is one of the world's largest skeptic magazines with over sixty A4 pages per issue. Circulation is 2500.

How entries are judged
Entries are judged according to school year -- the higher the year the higher the standard.
Entries with several authors are judged to a higher standard than entries with a single author.
Entries arising from classroom activities are judged to a higher standard than independent entries.

Conditions of entry
Entrants must be in school years 8-12 and must live in WA.
Entry must be typed or written on A4 paper.
The first page must be an abstract with entry details as described in How to Write Your Entry.

Entry must be the entrant's own work. Joint entries are welcome.
Begin whenever you like. Most entrants take up to a school term to complete their entry.
Entries must be in the mail to us by 30 June of the entry year.

Entries are not returned but photocopies are accepted.
All entries will be acknowledged. All entrants will be advised of the outcome.

What judges look for You don't like muddle and waffle. Neither do our judges. They look for three things: 1. Clarity and organisation: Can even you understand what you are saying? Do you group your ideas under headings as in a newspaper? Are there graphs and pictures to save on words? Are pages numbered? Can the reader find things in a hurry? 2. Critical thinking: Have you described your chosen belief? Its popularity? Why you think it is curious? What the facts are for and against? Where your information comes from? 3. Your own test or survey: Be your own mythbuster. Any test, even a simple one, is worth a hundred opinions. What the judges don't want is more opinions. Be like Aristotle, who is supposed to have said "Plato is dear to me, but dearer still is truth". Further help for entrants and teachers is in How to Write Your Entry.

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