Well, it took longer than I anticipated, but here it is. After some delays due to me getting COVID, and finally moving out of California, sorting through boxes, and other distractions, I’m pleased to announce the winners of the first-ever WUWT Climate Essay based on the aggregate score of three judges. The topic was:
Topic: Is there really a climate crisis?
Write the best arguments against the theory of man-made catastrophic global warming that would convince your neighbors that there is no climate crisis.
Cash Prizes:
- First prize for each of the professional and public categories: $2,000 (Thanks to our generous donors)
- Second prize for each of the professional and public categories: $800 (Again, thanks to our generous donors)
Note that we had quite a number of great submissions from the professional and the general public, and choosing a winner in both of those categories was challenging. They were all very good.
In addition to the two winning essays in each category posted here, I will publish ALL of the essays over the coming weeks. We don’t want the hard work of our contestants to go unnoticed and un-appreciated.
Unfortunately, we had no entries from the student category. This may be due to lack of available time, or fear of being ostracized by peers and professors alike. We’ll try the contest again just for students when summer break starts. – Anthony
WINNERS – PROFESSIONAL CATEGORY
1st PLACE- The Greta Leap Forward by Jim Kelly
2nd PLACE- Is there really a climate crisis? by David Hammond
WINNERS – GENERAL PUBLIC CATEGORY
1st PLACE- Is There Really a Climate Crisis? by C.M. Compton
2nd PLACE- The dog that never barks by David Hawkins
I will be contacing the winners by email to arrange how the cash prizes are to be sent. The first essay by Jim Kelley will publish on Monday morning, followed by others in the coming days.
A BIG THANK YOU to our donors, who made the cash prizes possible.
You’re a trooper, Anthony Watts.
The American public (and the world) are indebted to you for your fortitude, your courage and your perseverance in exposing the ginormous fraud that climate “science,” huge swathes of the mainstream media, professional and educational institutions have perpetrated.
It is a debt that can never properly be repaid.
Thanks for the kind words John.
Maybe try: trouper “2 a person who deals with and persists through difficulty or hardship without complaint”–Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary Eleventh Edition
Even though they are different words, trouper and trooper can both be used to describe one who perseveres through hardship or difficulty.
Trouper originates from one who is part of a theatre troupe and thus realizes the show must always go on.
Trooper originates from the designation given to soldiers and police officers, who are also no strangers to difficult conditions in the line of duty.
(Source: https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/usage-trooper-vs-trouper )
Oh Twaddle! Our Anthony is a super trouper in the ABBA sense
Tonight the super trouper lights are gonna find me
Shining like the sun (sup-p-per troup-p-per)
Smiling, having fun (sup-p-per troup-p-per)
Feeling like a number one
Tonight the super trouper beams are gonna blind me
But I won’t feel blue (sup-p-per troup-p-per)
Like I always do (sup-p-per troup-p-per)
‘Cause somewhere in the crowd there’s you
Keep on shining light in dark places
Another resource I have learned of at WUWT.
Thanks Janice, and of course, Anthony.
Agree 100% … a massive thank you Anthony Watts. All the best.
Can’t wait to read them. Great initiative…… thank you.
Great news. A fabulous Hat Tip to Anthony for pulling this all together.
I look forward to reading them all.
These are going to be some great posts.
Did I read you correctly that you are moving out of CA?
Already have. Resident of Nevada now.
Welcome to the state I moved to in 1977 at the age of 21. I spend a lot of my time out of state now, in Utah or on the road, but Las Vegas has been very very good to me.
Nice not paying state or local income taxes. I hoped you moved LAST year.
Be careful. California does not let their former residents off the tax hook that easily. Lots of nightmares for former Californa residents who vacated.
Especially when they move to nearby states like AZ or NV.
I talked to my tax guy about that. He said that CA is no longer allowed to pursue ex-residents for taxes on pre-tax retirement contributions earned in CA.
Bummer. Now I won’t be able to listen to your weather reports on KPAY on my way from Los Angeles to Medford.
Welcome to Nevada! The state needs more like you! Will make the presumption you migrated to northern Nevada…. if so, maybe we’ll run into each other one day!
(ps….. I’m NOT fred250…. I’m DJ, and have no idea how the fred250 thing attached itself to me!)
🎇 😀 🎉 😀 🎉 🎇 😀 🎉 😀 🎉 🎇 😀 🎉 😀 🎉 🎇
CONGRATULATIONS:
🌟 C. M. Compton 🌟
🌟 David Hammond 🌟
🌟 David Hawkins 🌟
🌟 Jim Kelly 🌟
Looking forward to reading your excellent writing.
Happy for you that all your hard work researching, drafting, re-writing, and editing paid off. 🙂
Janice
Ditto what Janice just said.
Regards,
Bob
PS: Thanks, Anthony, for hosting the contest. Stay well, and enjoy your new home.
A ditto to Janice and Bob and a “PS”.
PS Do they have “weather cows” in Nevada? 😎
What Janice said!
For me the hardest part was staying within the set 1500 word limit (I didn’t win but I’m OK with that 😁 ) This word limit was an inspired decision – it forces you to step back from one’s habitual streams of consciousness and really think how to concisely communicate an argument, keeping supporting data to an essential core. This is good for the reader who gets a cogent well structured article readable in just a couple of minutes or so.
So I also look forward to reading how the authors of the winning articles mastered this task!
My sympathy, to you, Mr. Salmon, for your disappointment (yes, you are “okay” with that, but, you spent many hours of your life on this and hoped… 😟).
Your comment, here, establishes that you ARE a concise, thoughtful, intelligent, readable, writer highly capable of writing a “cogent, well-structured, article.” I look forward to reading your essay 🙂.
I am also looking forward to figuring out who in the world those winners are (e.g., we have a D. J. Hawkins, but, I’m pretty sure he is “Daniel” not “David”). Not one of them is a familiar “face.”
{whispering: not that you seem to need commiseration, but, I, too, tried to win the contest; unlike you, after spending so many hours researching and writing, I was very disappointed (couldn’t help hoping…). Like you, however, I am truly happy for the winners (they, too, no doubt tried hard and hoped…) and am, now, “okay” with it — what really sent my heart into the basement (for a little bit) was that I had hoped my winning would help me launch a writing/editing career….. oh, boy, I really made it so that I had too much riding on that “win,” huh?…. eating humble pie is a very healthy diet, however😊…. and, “the truth shall set you free,” here, free from an inaccurate assessment of my abilities; thus, I can now act in line with data, instead of fantasy…. . I really should have realized that my writing isn’t exceptionally good long ago…. my 2016 10th Anniversary of WUWT, “The Battle for Science” effort wasn’t deemed high-quality enough to put a link to it anywhere on WUWT….. but, I had such a big ego that I was sure there was an unjustified reason for that…}
Onward!
Broken hearts, mended, are stronger than before. Let’s keep on dancing, Mr. Salmon, to the very end of the play. Soon, the curtain will fall, and the Real Story, full only of joy and love and truth and beauty and laughter will begin … and never end.
💔 💝 😀 💃
Epic comment Janice – too late to submit to the contest I guess 😁 . Keep dancing indeed – knees and vertebrae permitting! I too have had hopes of literary fame dashed at WUWT and elsewhere.
But now I’m really looking forward to reading your essay!
I think our winners might turn out to be recognisable by their sock puppet names. Here over the years I’ve used a number of such puppets but was chided by Willis Eschenbach into using my real name.
Aw, thank you. 😊 Very kind of you.
And, good for you to stand tall and wave the banner of truth without a mask on.
Janice,
You are a star already and I look forward to your witty comments on here.
What a debt of gratitude we owe our leader Anthony, who must be delighted to escape Calfitraz.
Btw I write rotten poetry and have dozens of anti global warming ones.
I am patiently awaiting Anthony’s poetry competition!
Wow! 😃 THANK YOU, Mr. healey. Boy, am I glad I came back here before heading for bed, this evening.
It would be so cool to read your poems. I would suggest submitting them (one at a time, or, as a collection) via the regular WUWT submissions form.
I don’t know if you are likely to be published or not. I have tried that route (May, 2021) and been (without comment) rejected.
Even if WUWT doesn’t deem your writing “good,” it OUGHT to publish your creative writing just for some FUN variety around this place ……
Anyway.
Do!
🙂
Janice; sadly, you are correct, and I cannot claim those accolades. I cannot recall seeing anything by my “cousin”, but he may employ a nom de guerre out of necessity. I look forward to reading all the winners.
Hey, D. J., bummer.
What you CAN claim (and very soundly, too!) is the admiration and gratitude of THIS commenter who will always remember how kind you were when I was very upset in November, 2016 about my 10th anniversary anthology, the work if several months, apparently going unpublished (it was, later in the day, but, it was looking doubtful for a bit). You and a few others offered to help me get it posted.
And, of course, as all of us “regulars” know, you are witty, intelligent, informed, and kind.
Thanks for the “shout out, here.
Take care.
As a former student paper contest winner from decades ago, I applaud you.
I can’t wait to read them.
They sound marvellous! Funny, too, perhaps. Any chance of wider MSM publication ? UK Daily Telegraph perhaps? Free copy. Snip
Unfortunately, we had no entries from the student category.
All of us here at WUWT are students – thanks to Anthony and all who contribute to this outstanding and courageous blog.
Don’t forget to send 1099’s with the checks. Brandon needs his cut.
I pity the real Brandon. Forever associated with the fake Brandon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aD-LpRA5ID0
Shoulda gone farther.
Congratulations to the winners!
Awesome! I don’t recognize those names as regular posters, though they may post regularly under a handle.
I am really looking forward to the essays.
Huzzahs all ’round!
P.S. To Anthony – Glad you escaped the Peoples Republik of Kalifornia. I hope you landed well and good. Someplace where you are free to be Anthony Watts and can always ask, “What’s up with that?” without any worries of being cancelled.
The essay contest is a winner and I too thank your generous sponsors.
I guess my article wasn’t in the contest. I’ll look forward to reading the winners.
The Disappointing Nature Of Some Science Writing wasn’t too bad, though it might not fit in either category.
Really looking forward to reading them. Arguments alone, especially scientific ones are of little help in convincing people with little or no scientific background. Similarly to the alarmists, we also need a series of so-called “slogans” to convince the general public. Comprehensive well written assays on the subject are paramount to achieving that. Another aspect will be to stop being “too nice and polite” wrt. to bullying, smearing and other such tactics from the “other side”. Fortunately we have one thing that’s going for us: “reality”. Sooner or later, the energy crisis is going to kick in, and unfortunately a lot of people are going to suffer. That will be a decisive moment where we can confront these people and their responsibility for what they have done. Sometimes, things can only be learned the “hard way”.
Ross McKitrick called this some years ago during an online discussion (its on YT somewhere, possibly Heartland). He said that ultimately the climate scam will be stopped in its tracks because people simply could not afford it. This is becoming obvious here in the UK (energy prices doubled virtually overnight (before the Ukraine crisis) and more voices are being heard discussing ending the moratorium on fracking as well as increasing North Sea gas and oil production. We can but hope!
Dear departed Norma liked to say that when the average housewife realized what climate goons are doing to the household budget there’d be rioting in the streets.
But that is taking a long time to occur.
(Objective Norma was a housewife, a character.)
Loved the header of the winning article “The Greta Leap Forward”. Takes a history knowledge to really appreciate how appropriate it is.
Looking forward to reading them all.
The Ayn Rand Institute and The Objective Standard may publicize such contests. (ARI runs a philosophical essay contest for students.)