It has just been announced, in the July/August issue of Skeptical Inquirer magazine, that our own Steven Novella has been awarded the 2010 Robert P. Balles Annual Prize in Critical Thinking. It will be formally presented at the CSIcon conference in New Orleans on October 28, 2011. The Prize is a $1500 award given to the author of the published work or body of work that best exemplifies healthy skepticism, logical analysis, or empirical science. The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) selects the publication that, in its judgment, has the greatest potential to create positive reader awareness of currently important scientific concerns. Previous awards starting in 2005 were for individual publications. In Dr. Novella’s case, the award was for his entire body of work. In the letter informing him of his selection, CSI Executive Director Barry Karr said,

…you are being honored for your tremendous body of work including The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe, Science-Based Medicine, Neurologica, your SKEPTICAL INQUIRER column “The Science of Medicine,” as well as your tireless travel and lecture schedule on behalf of skepticism. You may well be the hardest worker in all of skepticism today. And to me, the truly amazing thing is you do all of this on a volunteer basis.

He is also the president and co-founder of the New England Skeptical Society, a fellow of CSI, a founding fellow of the Institute for Science in Medicine, a medical advisor to Quackwatch, a contributor to other blogs, has produced a course for The Teaching Company on “Medical Myths, Lies, and Half-Truths,” and is Senior Fellow and Director of the James Randi Educational Foundation’s (JREF) new Science-Based Medicine project. And I have undoubtedly omitted several of his other accomplishments.

It is hard to believe he hasn’t cloned himself, since all of these achievements are in addition to his demanding day job as a clinical neurologist, assistant professor, and director of general neurology at Yale University School of Medicine.

Congratulations, Steve! The award couldn’t have gone to a better candidate. I want to add my personal thanks for all you do and say how proud I am to be associated with you. You da man!

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