The Long Way Home 1.16.26

Seriously, why all the awards shows?

In October, I was an Honoree at the Red Rock Democratic Club Silver Jubilee in Las Vegas. Honored because I was president of the club when it was chartered by the county party 25 years ago. I earned a picture in the program, a brief bio, and an acrylic star engraved with the club logo, the jubilee date, and my name. I didn’t fly to Sin City to collect my award. Hence, the club shipped me my star, which now sits atop the bookshelf in my office alongside a wood carving I did in a North House class, a Dala horse my Swedish grandparents brought over in the 1950s, and a bronze sculpture of two wolf heads we’ve had for 30 years.

When I played Little League baseball in the '60s, I didn’t earn a trophy. By the time I had kids in the Bloomington Athletic Association, the kids were all getting trophies or ribbons for making it through a season with a coach who was sometimes under the influence of legal, adult beverages. It was the beginning of participation trophy days.   

Seeing all the advertisements (yes, I watch too much television) hyping big award shows, and all the talk show time devoted to predicting who would be nominated, who would win, and who was shunned, I’m left wondering what these awards are really all about. Are they truly about celebrating achievement, or just spectacle and entertainment? 

There are dozens of national award shows in the United States each year. At a high level, there are four foundational "EGOT" ceremonies, about 15–20 high-profile televised events, and hundreds of specialized "Guild" or industry ceremonies that happen annually. The "Big Four" (EGOT Pillars) are the oldest and represent the "gold standard" for their respective industries: For television, the Emmy Awards are split into Primetime and Daytime, plus specialized ceremonies for News, Sports, and Tech—the Grammy Awards for music honor over 90 categories across all genres. For the film industry, the Academy Awards and its Oscar trophy show are the most-watched award show globally. The Tony Awards celebrate excellence in the live Broadway theater.

Don’t forget the nationally televised Pop-Culture Awards like the Golden Globes, Critics' Choice Awards, and the People’s Choice Awards. MTV Awards include the VMAs (Video Music Awards) and the Movie & TV Awards. BET Awards celebrate minorities in music, acting, and sports. The ESPYS are the premier national awards for athletic achievement and sports. Not to be passed up are the Kids’ Choice Awards from Nickelodeon.

Not to be outdone, there are the peer awards. The Actor Awards from the Screen Actors Guild, 

The Directors Guild Award for directing excellence, The Writers Guild Awards for excellence in screenwriting and teleplay. The Producers Guild honors the year’s best producers. 

Award shows must be highly profitable. There are at least three biggies in Country Music alone: the Academy of Country Music (ACM) Awards, the CMT Music Awards, and the Country Music Association (CMA) Awards.

Those of us toiling in arenas featuring the written word have our awards, too. The big one is the Pulitzer Prize, the gold standard for news, literature, and music without a network spectacle. The National Book Awards celebrate the best in American fiction and non-fiction.

Not to be outdone, state newspaper associations honor the work of many people in local and regional journalism. Last fall, I volunteered to be a judge for the Iowa Newspaper Association's annual awards. I was asked to judge the websites submitted by small and large Iowa-based newspapers. My qualifications for that were about the same as those for refereeing youth soccer games. 

The New York Times Best Seller list is considered the most influential book ranking in the world. It’s possible, but not a given, that making the list may have little to do with individual book sales. The ranking can be influenced by pre-publication sales and even bulk purchases by interested groups. Think of a well-known special-interest figure, such as a so-called political influencer, whose books are bought in large numbers by the monied elite, who support the author’s message. 

Beyond the big national and international honors, Minnesota—and specifically the North Shore—has a collection of "niche" awards that recognize the particular skills, businesses, and cultural quirks required to thrive in the North Woods.

So, I don’t sweat the small stuff like local awards for friends, neighbors, artists, and athletes in our communities. I am tired of the gaudy national awards shows, which I don’t actually watch. The promotional ads for these Gilded Circuses are thrown at us at every turn, showing both the high cost and the chaotic, entertainment-first nature of the events.

Enough already.