Editing Darwin Awards (section)

==Rules==
Northcutt has stated five requirements for a Darwin Award:<ref name="history_and_rules" /><ref name="Hansen_Suzy">{{cite news |last=Hansen |first=Suzy |title=The Darwin Awards |url=http://www.salon.com/2000/11/10/northcutt/ |access-date=September 18, 2012 |newspaper=[[Salon (website)|Salon]] |date=November 10, 2000}}</ref>  Two of them are that the event must be verified to have happened, and that the nominee themselves were responsible for the activity.  The others are:

=== Nominee must be dead or rendered sterile ===

This may be subject to dispute. Potential awardees may be out of the gene pool because of age; others have already reproduced before their deaths. To avoid debates about the possibility of [[in-vitro fertilization|''in vitro'' fertilization]], [[artificial insemination]], or [[human cloning|cloning]], the original Darwin Awards book applied the following "deserted island" test to potential winners: If the person were unable to reproduce when stranded on a deserted island with a fertile member of the opposite sex, he or she would be considered sterile.<ref name="book_one">{{cite book |last=Northcutt |first=Wendy |title=The Darwin Awards: Evolution in Action |year=2000 |publisher=PLUME (The Penguin Group) |location=New York City |isbn=978-0-525-94572-7 |pages=2–6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cowke97r_IkC&q=darwin+awards}}</ref> Winners of the award, in general, either are dead or have become unable to use their [[sexual organs]].

=== Astoundingly stupid judgment ===

The candidate's foolishness must be unique and sensational, likely because the award is intended to be funny. A number of foolish but common activities, such as smoking in bed, are excluded from consideration. In contrast, [[self-immolation]] caused by smoking after being administered a flammable ointment in a hospital and specifically told not to smoke is grounds for nomination.<ref name="stubbed_out">{{cite web |author1=C.J. |author2=Malcolm, Andrew |author3=Sims, Iain |author4=Beeston, Richard. |title=Stubbed Out |url=http://darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin2006-06.html |publisher=darwinawards.com |access-date=August 15, 2012}}</ref> One "Honorable Mention" (a man who attempted suicide by swallowing [[Glyceryl trinitrate (pharmacology)|nitroglycerin pills]], and then tried to detonate them by running into a wall) is noted to be in this category, despite being intentional and self-inflicted (i.e. attempted suicide), which would normally disqualify the inductee.<ref name="Cawcutt_Tom">{{cite web |last=Cawcutt |first=Tom |title=Phenomenal Failure |url=http://darwinawards.com/stupid/stupid2001-24.html |publisher=darwinawards.com |access-date=August 15, 2012}}</ref>

=== Capable of sound judgment ===
In 2011, however, the awards targeted a 16-year-old boy in Leeds who died stealing copper wiring. In 2012, Northcutt made similar light of a 14-year-old girl in Brazil who was killed while leaning out of a school bus window, but she was "disqualified" for the award itself because of the likely public objection owing to the girl's age, which Northcutt asserts is based on "[[magical thinking]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://homoeconomicusnet.wordpress.com/2012/12/10/darwin-awards-2012-too-young-to-include/|title=Darwin Awards 2012 – too young to include?|date=December 10, 2012|access-date=June 4, 2018}}</ref>

Under this rule, and for reasons of good taste, individuals whose misfortune was caused by mental impairment or disability are not eligible for a Darwin Award, primarily to avoid mocking or making light of the disabled, and to ensure that the awards do not celebrate or trivialize tragedies involving vulnerable individuals.