Good Thinking’s Ockham Award (Photo Credit: Rob McDermott)
At the QED skeptical conference last weekend, Good Thinking were delighted to be awarded an Ockham’s award for Best Skeptical Campaign/Event, for our work challenging the provision of homeopathy on the NHS.
The awards, which are run by the Skeptic magazine, are designed to recognise the very best work taking place in the skeptical community, and the whole Good Thinking team is honoured to receive the award.
Good Thinking were well-represented at the conference, with Simon, Marsh and Laura all taking part in panels and podcast recordings, and all three of us were able to take to the stage to collect the award from Susan Blackmore and Richard Wiseman. Most encouraging of all was the fantastic reaction from the 650-plus skeptics in the audience, both when our name was read out as a nomination and then again when we were announced as the winner – to see the skeptical community so enthusiastically behind our work and so vociferous in their praise was enormously rewarding.
Good Thinking receive an Ockham Award (Photo Credit: Rob McDermott)
During our acceptance speech, Simon reminded the QED attendees that at QED 2015 they raised over £3,000 to help fund this very campaign, which the conference very kindly agreed to match – it was that support, and the help of our other donors and supporters, which allowed our campaign to be a success.
Marsh highlighted in his speech that while we are very pleased with the success we’ve had, we will not rest on our laurels, as there is much more to do. Bristol, London and Glasgow all continue to fund homeopathy; the Department of Health will soon be consulting on blacklisting homeopathy as a result of our legal correspondence; the Charity Commission will soon begin reviewing their policy on charities promoting pseudoscience as a result of our challenge; and there’s much, much more to do beside.
We’d like to once again thank everyone who has supported our work so far, and ask that anyone who wants to congratulate us on our award or help ensure we are successful in the future considers making a one-off or monthly donation to support our work. As a small organisation, if each of our supporters were able to contribute as little as £3 per month it would help secure our long-term future.
