The Bent Spoon Award is an award given by Australian Skeptics, "presented to the perpetrator of the most preposterous piece of paranormal or pseudoscientific piffle". The award is named as allusion to the practice of spoon bending by supposed psychics.
Australian Skeptics facetiously describes the trophy as a piece of gopher wood supposedly from the Noah’s Ark, upon which is affixed a spoon that was rumoured to have been used at the Last Supper. The spoon was bent by energies unknown to science and was gold-plated through an Atlantean process. Although established in 1982 and first awarded in 1983, only one copy of the trophy exists, as "anyone wishing to acquire the trophy must remove it from our keeping by paranormal means" and no winner has yet overcome this obstacle.
The winner should either be an Australian or have carried out their activities in Australia.
The New Zealand Skeptics have a similar Bent Spoon Award.
The award has always been announced at Australian Skeptics' annual convention. Prior to 1989, when the convention was held over Easter weekend, the award covered activity occurring during the calendar year prior to the convention, and the year designation reflected when the winner conducted his or her activities. At the 1989 convention, the organisation moved its conventions to later in the year and changed the award period to cover the time between conventions. Therefore, there was no 1989 award, and since that time the year designation has reflected the year in which the award was announced.
2016: The Social Sciences Department of the University of Wollongong, PhD recipient Judith Wilyman, and supervisor Brian Martin for Wilyman's social science vaccination thesis, which they alleged was "riddled with errors, misstatements, poor and unsupported ‘evidence’ and conspiratorial thinking".
2015: Pete Evans, for his support of the Paleo diet.
2014: Dr Larry R. Marshall, Chief Executive, CSIRO, for his support of water divining.
2013: Chiropractors' Association of Australia and the Chiropractic Board of Australia for failing to ensure their own members — including some committee members — adhere to their policy announcements.
2012: Fran Sheffield, founder of Homeopathy Plus!, which markets "homeopathic vaccination" for the treatment and prevention of serious infectious diseases including but not limited to meningococcal disease, along with homeopathic "remedies" for the treatment and prevention of domestic violence and acute radiation sickness among other things.
2011: RMIT University (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) for its outstanding work in teaching pseudoscience.
2010: Australian Curriculum and Reporting Authority (ACARA) for its "draft science curriculum".
2009: Meryl Dorey and the Australian Vaccination Network
2008: Dr. Kerryn Phelps.
2007: Marena Manzoufas, Head of Programming at the ABC for authorising the television show Psychic Investigators and for putting it on air in the Catalyst timeslot.
2006: Pharmacists of Australia who sell quackery and snake oil in places where consumers should expect to get real medical supplies and advice.
2005: The ABC television program Second Opinion, for presenting an uncritical perspective on alternative medicine, even encouraging its use.
2004: The New Inventors for giving consideration to the AntiBio water conditioning system.
2003: The Complementary Healthcare Council - an industry group consisting of manufacturers and practitioners of alternative therapies and products that lobbied hard to keep scrutiny to a minimum and sought taxpayer funding for advertising.
2002: Gentle Heal Pty Ltd for selling homeopathic products that clearly label themselves as vaccines, such as "Hepatitis C Vaccine".
2001: The Lutec "Free Energy Generator" - a device claiming to produce 30 times more output than input, but actually outputs 33% of input power.
2000: Jasmuheen for continuing to claim people can live solely on air and light, despite repeated exposure as fallacy.
1999: Mike Willesee for obtaining the assistance of scientists and theologians on a TV show, then ignoring their input
1998: Southern Cross University for publicising one of its academics' support for "empowered water", and for both offering a degree course in naturopathy while simultaneously conducting research into the validity of naturopathy
1997: Dr. Viera Scheibner for her high profile anti-immunisation campaign
1996: Marlo Morgan
1995: Tim Macartney-Snape for promotion of the beliefs of Jeremy Griffith, self-described prophet and founder of the World Transformation Movement
1994: Commonwealth Attorney General's Office
1993: Tonight Live on Channel 7
1992: Allen S. Roberts - fundamentalist pastor who stated he visited the site of Noah's Ark
1991: Women's Day magazine, for "spurious New Age nostrums"
1990: Mafu (Penny Torres Rubin) - a channeled ancient entity
1989: (None awarded)
1988: Diane McCann - prominent new age proponent, proclaimed the City of Churches was the location of part of Atlantis.
1987: Anne Dankbaar - Adelaide psychic
1986: Peter Brock - promoted an energy polariser which was claimed to turn old cars new via the power of a crystal
1985: The Findhorn Foundation for bringing Rev. Willard Fuller, a psychic dentist who promised to turn fillings into gold and repair decaying teeth, to Australia
1984: Karen Hunt - psychic archaeologist
1983: Dennis Hassell - Melbourne mystic
1982: Tom Wards - psychic
