Emperor Has No Clothes Award
An award celebrating “plain speaking” on the shortcomings of religion by public figures was inaugurated by the Freedom From Religion Foundation in 1999.
The award is based on the folk tale, "The Emperor Has No Clothes," by Hans Christian Andersen. In the story two weavers con a gullible emperor by selling him expensive cloth they claim is so exquisite only the very wise can see it. The emperor parades before his cowed subjects in his imaginary finery, until an astute child calls out:
"But the emperor has no clothes!"
Religion, the Foundation contends, has a similar imaginary base.
The award is reserved for public figures who take on the fabled role of the little child in the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale and "tell it like it is"—about religion. The premiere award went to Nobel Laureate and plain-spoken physicist Steven Weinberg in 1999.
The Emperor statue, an engaging, golden figure clad only in shoes and a fig leaf, and carrying a mirror and sceptre, was produced for the Foundation by the same firm that does the Oscars.
Past Recipents
- 2018 – Adam Savage
- 2018 – Salman Rushdie
- 2018 – Jared Huffman
- 2018 – Paula Poundstone
- 2017 – Steven Pinker
- 2016 – Lawrence Krauss
- 2015 – Taslima Nasrin
- 2015 – Ernie Chambers
- 2014 – Donald C. Johanson
- 2014 – Sean Carroll
- 2014 – Bart Erhman
- 2013 – Juan Mendez
- 2013 – Dan Savage
- 2012 – Richard Dawkins
- 2011 – Charles Strouse
- 2011 – Jerry Coyne
- 2010 – Ayaan Hirsi Ali
- 2010 – Cenk Uygur
- 2009 – William Lobdell
- 2009 – Ursula K. Le Guin
- 2009 – Ron Reagan
- 2008 – Daniel C. Dennett
- 2007 – Christopher Hitchens
- 2006 – Julia Sweeney
- 2005 – Oliver Sacks
- 2004 – Anne Gaylor
- 2004 – Robyn E. Blumner
- 2004 – Peter Singer
- 2004 – Ron Reagan
- 2004 – Steven Pinker
- 2003 – Natalie Angier
- 2003 – Alan M. Dershowitz
- 2003 – Roger, Pat & Melody Cleveland
- 2003 – Penn & Teller
- 2002 – Steve Benson
- 2002 – Robert Sapolsky
- 2001 – Katha Pollitt
- 2001 – Richard Dawkins
- 2001 – George Carlin
- 2001 – Janeane Garafalo
- 2001 – Andy Rooney
- 2001 – Ted Turner
- 2001 – Jesse Ventura
- 1999 – Steven Weinberg
