The Ernie Awards, or the Ernies, were Australian awards for comments deemed misogynistic. They were held annually from 1993 to 2022, being discontinued after that year.

History

They are named after former Australian Workers' Union secretary Ernie Ecob, who was known for his misogynistic remarks. One of his best-known remarks was "Women aren't welcome in the shearing sheds. They're only after the sex", which is why there is a sheep on top of the Gold Ernie. The inaugural awards night was in celebration of his resignation from the Labor Council of New South Wales.

Description

A dinner is held for 300 women each year and the winner is determined by the person who receives the most booing when their sexist statement or action is read out. A variety of categories have featured, such as the Gold Ernie, the Warney (for sport, named after Shane Warne), the Media Ernie, the Political Ernie, the Judicial Ernie, the Good Ernie (for boys behaving better, formerly called the Gareth after Gareth Evans ), the Elaine (for females making comments unhelpful to the sisterhood, named after Elaine Nile ) and the Trump (for repeat offenders, after Donald Trump). The categories of offenders have changed over the years. A collection of comments has been compiled in the book One Thousand Terrible Things Australian Men Have Said About Women by Meredith Burgmann and Yvette Andrews.

Winners

Gold Ernie

Silver Ernie – Industrial

Silver Ernie – Political

Silver Ernie – Media

Silver Ernie – Judicial

The Warney for Sport

The Fred – Clerical, Culinary, Celebrity

The Clinton/Trump – for repeat offenders

The Elaine – for women

The Good Ernie