History & Rules

In the spirit of Charles Darwin, the Darwin Awards commemorate individuals who protect our gene pool by making the ultimate sacrifice of their own lives. Darwin Award winners eliminate themselves in an extraordinarily idiotic manner, thereby improving our species' chances of long-term survival. Next
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Maturity

The candidate must be capable of sound judgment.

Humans are generally capable of sound judgment--except those with mental handicaps that render them unable to fully comprehend the ramifications of their actions. A vociferous majority argues that CHILDREN also fit into this category, citing the vast gulf between ignorance and stupidity.

An equally clamorous minority contends that children are the BEST candidates for a rusty chromosome award(1) since they obviously have not reproduced. NUMEROUS children have stated that restricting children from vying for this laudable award is another encroachment on their civil liberties.

I appreciate that parents are responsible for raising their offspring and teaching them to make responsible decisions. Therefore children under sixteen are not eligible to win a Darwin Award(2). However, a few have been included as cautionary nominees when their actions can be considered foolhardy by even their young peers.

FOOTNOTES:

#1) "Arbitrary rules applied to natural selection? Perhaps you missed the point of Darwin altogether." -Jim S.

#2) If the child cannot win the award because the parent's judgement was paramount, perhaps it is the parent who should win an award for his or her careless caretaking.

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