The Weemsy Awards

Nominations for the 2023 Weemsy Awards™ Are Piling Up!
See a few examples below and then click on Nominations 2023 to see them all. Warning: reading too many of them in one sitting may affect your IQ score!

Check out last year's winners!

Award #1: The Weemsy of the Year for 2022 - The Person Who Said the Most Ridiculous and/or Demonstrably False Statements About U.S. History – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who earned three nominations in 2022 for: 1) claiming “no one questioned slavery” before the American Revolution. 2) saying children shouldn’t be taught that US is built on “stolen land” because “It isn’t true.” 3) pushing for and signing a new civics curriculum that teaches students that slavery in America wasn’t that bad.
Runner-up: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (also the runner up in 2021)

Welcome to The Weemsy Awards™!
We spotlight the most egregious misrepresentations of U.S. History in the past year by politicians, celebrities, executives, and more. Awards are announced in December.

NOMINATIONS

Throughout the year, The Weemsy Awards™ collects (with the help of #Twitterstorians and others on social media) stories about historical numbskullery.

Then, in early December we organize the top nominees (based degree of inaccuracy, absurdity, and ignorance) into 7 awards categories and ask the public to vote for the winners which are announced in mid-December.

THE AWARDS

ABOUT

The Weemsy Awards™, also known as The Weemsies™, are brought to you by historian Edward T. O’Donnell, Ph.D., host of the podcast In The Past Lane, with help from a collective of fellow historians who are dedicated to historical accuracy. The awards are named in honor of Parson Weems, aka Mason Locke Weems, (1759-1825). Weems was a preacher and bookseller who... READ MORE

The Weemsy Awards™ spotlight the most egregious misrepresentations of U.S. History in the past year by politicians, celebrities, executives, and more. Recent award categories include:

BIGGEST HISTORY FOOL OF THE YEAR

MOST ASTONISHINGLY STUPID REFERENCE TO SLAVERY

GREATEST FALSE CLAIM ABOUT THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION