Seems like a publicity stunt. What percentage of winners ever turn up to get their prize?

Probably quite low like the Golden Raspberries.

Practically all of them, at least in recent years. Somebody attends the ceremony:

https://improbable.com/ig/winners/

It was more like the Golden Raspberries in the early years. Every prize in the first ceremony was really an insult (Dan Quayle for demonstrating the need for education, Edward Teller for peace, Erich von Daniken for literature, etc.)

But it drifted towards their current goal of "making people laugh and then making them think". It's not an insult; it's recognition that the work sounds absurd at first but is actually cool and they're proud of it.

By 2000 most of these were awards for real science now nearly everybody shows up (or sends a representative).

Kudos to them for giving Von Däniken a literature award... He unironically made my youth more entertaining even if many of his ideas were suss.

isn’t the first. won’t be the last. and i’m afraid it’ll be very difficult to reverse the course here long-term :/