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Entertainment

What is an Award Ceremony?

By Lauren Romano
Updated May 16, 2024
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An award ceremony is an event where one or multiple awards are given out to those who are being acknowledged for a specific purpose. They can take place during the day or evening. The location depends on the level of formality of the event; they can be held anywhere from a school gym to a formal ballroom. An award ceremony can happen at almost any point in life, from elementary school to senior age and for many purposes.

In elementary schools, an awards ceremony is usually informal. Parents may attend to support their children receiving the awards. More often than not, it takes place during the day where awards are given out in categories such as “Perfect Attendance” and “Straight A’s”. Typically, they are paper certificates.

Sports are another opportunity for an award ceremony. This can take place at almost any point in a person’s life. During younger years, someone may receive a small trophy or medal for participating in after-school sports or winning a title. For teenagers or adults who participate in sports as a career, such as those at the Olympics or those that coach, they may receive medals, plaques, or trophies. The awards ceremonies for after-school sports are usually far less formal than for those who partake in sports as a career.

Depending on the company, employees may find themselves attending an award ceremony for their job. The ceremonies can range from informal to formal and anything from framed certificates to plaques may be handed out. This is typically an opportunity to acknowledge a specific milestone in an employee’s career, such as a certain number of years within the company.

Another type of awards ceremony that the world gets to partake in are those that acknowledge entertainers. These ceremonies, such as the Grammy Awards, are broadcast via television to millions of viewers who, in some cases, have viewing parties to watch the events. Those attending the ceremony will usually dress in very formal attire. They acknowledge musicians, actors, actresses, crews and others who help keep the entertainment industry together and thriving. Statuettes are typically given out to the winners at the ceremonies.

An award ceremony is a good opportunity to recognize those who have earned special recognition. Depending on the type of event, it can also be a chance to dress up in formal attire. Whether personally attending or watching it on television, they can be fun to partake in, listen to the speeches and associate with friends and acquaintances.

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Discussion Comments

By LisaLou — On Dec 26, 2011

While I often find long award ceremonies to be a little bit boring, I always look forward to the ceremonies at the Olympics.

From the night of the opening ceremonies, until the end of the competitions, I find myself captivated by the whole process.

When they have the medal ceremonies, I love to watch the expressions on their faces as their national anthem is played.

I think being able to participate in an award ceremony like this would be an honor. After all their years of discipline and sacrifice, I would think these award ceremonies would be quite special for them.

By golf07 — On Dec 26, 2011

It is true that someone can be involved in an awards ceremony at any stage of life. This happened to my mother-in-law late in life.

She had volunteered as the librarian at the private school where all their kids attended. Even after all the kids graduated, she continued volunteering her time there until she was no longer physically able to do so.

After a couple cancer incidents, she finally had to give it up. They planned an award ceremony for her in her honor. They also officially renamed the library in her name.

Even though something like this didn't receive a lot of attention outside this school, it was something that was very important to her and our family.

She volunteered all those years because she loved kids and books. Never did she dream they would someday name the library after her.

By bagley79 — On Dec 25, 2011

My very first awards ceremony was when I was in high school. I was inducted into the National Honor Society, and they had an annual ceremony for this every year.

I don't remember a whole lot about it other than receiving a pin, plaque and public recognition. There were a few of my classmates who were also included in the ceremony.

It was nice to have the recognition from working hard to get good grades.

By cardsfan27 — On Dec 25, 2011

@TreeMan 0 I absolutely agree with you. Awards ceremonies are usually very dull and boring and I personally do not care for them. I even usually do not watch them and just look and see who won the award online after the show is over.

The point of an awards ceremony is to acknowledge the achievements of a person receiving an award and it is meant for them. However, with awards ceremonies like the Academy Awards it becomes more of a spectacle and more about the Awards show itself that could care less about giving the person receiving an award their moment in the sun.

If you want to see a true awards ceremony look at the low level ones, such as at high schools, that just acknowledge the person's achievements and do not play around with the spectacle of it all.

By TreeMan — On Dec 24, 2011

Sometimes the big media event is created out of the lead up to the announcement of the award and the awards ceremony is really nothing special at all.

If you look at the Heisman Award Ceremony it is absolutely nothing compared to the media event that is created leading up to it.

Unfortunately, I do not like awards ceremonies that are broadcast and feel that they are rather dull and lack interesting aspects to it, but the conjecture leading up to them and who is going to get the award are absolutely tremendous and are very fun to think about.

By JimmyT — On Dec 24, 2011

@titans62 - You are absolutely correct to an extent. If you are comparing things such as the Academy Awards to awards given out at a high school then yes, but there is also little media coverage given to big awards ceremonies for whatever reason.

In baseball and football they usually do not have big awards ceremonies for the awards and the announcement to the media is usually the big spectacle. I have heard for some players they simply have the award mailed to them or they receive it right before the start of a game the next season.

I once saw Albert Pujols receive his Most Valuable Player Award for baseball right before the start of the game and the media did not cover it much at all because they had known he had won it for nearly six months and the game was literally going to start in ten minutes.

By titans62 — On Dec 23, 2011

Awards Ceremonies can differ quite differently among one another depending on how much of a big deal the awards are.

If one were to watch the Academy Awards they will see millions and millions of dollars spent on the awards show, which tries to create a large spectacle and attract as much people and revenue as possible.

Then again if a coach were to be having a pot luck or banquet for his youth football team he could merely give out awards for good play and sportsmanship in a really informal way.

Awards ceremonies are simply recognitions of achievement and wary in all shapes and forms. I think that it really depends on the media coverage and this is a good way to gauge how big the awards ceremony is.

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