History of the Pickett Trophy
The Pickett Trophy was proposed to Usenet on July 5, 1999, in the following
Usenet
post:
To complement the Col. Custer "Kicked Ass" Award, I propose
creation of a new Kook award, the General George Pickett Trophy for Valiant,
Stupid Futility. This award is named for General George Pickett, Confederate
general who led the infamous "Pickett's Charge" and accomplished absolutely
nothing except the transformation of live soldiers into dead soldiers. The
General Pickett Trophy would be awarded to the Kook who launches a crusade so
obviously in the wrong, so doomed to failure, so likely to result in abject
misery, and clings to it until the Grim Reaper was to tap on his shoulder and
ask him to slow down. Voting would be by acclamation, awarded the same as the
Custer "Kicked Ass" award.
Examples of worthy recipients:
- US Sen. Murkowski's "Spam Is Good" crusade
- Bill Palmer's drive to amass the largest personal archive on Deja News
- Steve Case's desire to make AOL respectable
The creation of the Pickett Trophy was approved and it was placed on the ballot
for the July 1999 voting. The first winner was Brad Jesness, who ran
unopposed for the honor and received it on August 17, 1999.