Eugenie Scott, The Onion.com, TV Shows to Be Honored by Hollywood Skeptics at Annual Awards Ceremony on July 29th
Hollywood, CA (PRWEB) July 20, 2013 -- The Independent Investigations Group (IIG), the international skeptical research and science advocacy organization, has announced the finalists to be honored in their annual awards ceremony recognizing the promotion of science in popular media and arts. These include Eugenie Scott, Executive Director of the National Center for Science Education, along with The Onion.com satirical website, the TV series “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia” and “The Hamster Wheel.”
“The IIG Awards recognize mainstream entertainment for promoting critical thinking and scientific values and dispelling myths and superstition,” said James Underdown, Chair of the IIG. “This has become an important annual event at the intersection of science and entertainment,” he added.
The awards presentation will be held on Monday Jul 29th at the Steve Allen Theater at the Center for Inquiry-Los Angeles at 4773 Hollywood Blvd, with a reception starting at 7 PM. Admission is free although donations to support the event are welcome.
Presenters of the awards for 2013 include comedians Emo Philips (Trip Tank, Adventure Time); Kira Soltanovich (Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Hot Tamales Live, Here Comes Trouble); actor/comedian Ron Lynch (Adventure Time, Bob’s Burgers), Matt Kirshen (Late Late Show With Craig Fergusen, The Green Room with Paul Provenza), and others. Musical entertainment will be provided by comedian-musician Eric Schwartz. Also in attendance will be representatives of the winning shows, VIP guests, and supporters and Friends of the Center for Inquiry. Members of the press are also welcome.
IIG “Iggie” trophy finalists for 2013 include Mark Cuban of “The Shark Tank” and owner of the Dallas Mavericks for his exposing of sham products. Also The Onion.com, for the hearty dose of scientific skepticism underlying many of their satirical pieces. And the TV shows “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia” (FX), and “The Hamster Wheel” (ABC Australia).
A special honor bestowed by the IIG for a career devoted to educating the public through entertainment media is induction into the IIG’s “Houdini Hall of Honor” (named after Harry Houdini). This year’s inductee is Eugenie Scott, PhD. Dr. Scott has been the Executive Director of the National Center for Science Education since 1987. In that role she has traveled the World and appeared in numerous documentary films addressing religious ‘creationism’ and other pseudoscience. Scott’s name will join Harry Houdini, Carl Sagan, James Randi, Isaac Asimov, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, and others on a perpetual plaque on display at CFI.
Also being recognized this year is the series The Dr. Phil Show. The show will receive the humorously-named, “Truly Terrible Television Award,” given each year to a program that promotes pseudoscience or belief in the supernatural. Dr. Phil is being recognized for episodes that presented psychics as legitimate.
Previous winners of IIG Awards include Through the Wormhole (Science Channel), Mythbusters, Psych (USA Network), The Simpsons (Fox TV), Eureka (Syfy Channel), The Mentalist (CBS), Phenomenon (NBC), Dr. Dean Edell, and others.
Previous winners of the Truly Terrible Television (TTTV) Award include Ghost Hunters (SyFy), The Montel Williams show (CBS), Psychic Kids (A&E), the Creationist movie Expelled (Premise Media Corp), The Oprah Winfrey Show, and the Dr. Oz Show.
For more information on the IIG Awards, previous winners and this year’s ceremony, see: http://www.iigwest.com/iigawards/index.html
The Independent Investigations Group (IIG) is a group of volunteers established by James Underdown in 2000 as an adjunct to the Center for Inquiry – Los Angeles. The charter of the group is to investigate claims of the supernatural and paranormal and to disseminate the results of those investigations to the public. The IIG offers a $100,000 prize to anyone that can demonstrate such abilities under proper observing conditions. Members of the IIG consist of people from all walks of life: Engineers, scientists, doctors, entertainers, teachers, students, homemakers, and many others, but all having a rational and inquiring mind.
David Richards, [email protected], 714.720.8187, [email protected]
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