Is the term "award winning" meaningless?

There was an industry magazine that awarded “Most innovative” and “most ground breaking” and Best of the year” awards to companies in my inudustry. They were awarded based on the amount spent on advertising in the magazine and buying the most seats/biggest table for the awards dinner.

Of course it’s meaningless. After all, unless the award is specified, it is useless information. Suppose, for instance, the actual award granted the “award winning movie” is for “worst movie ever”

It is as meaningless as “could save you up to 15%”, “richer, smoother and tastier” and “40% more”. Advertisements don’t use language to describe products they use language to manipulate people into buying them which is one reason why I don’t like adverts though they are impossible to avoid.

You are a real loser of a company when you state that your product/service/art was “Award XZY Nominated”.
But “Award Winning”, in my book, comes close.
It’s a proof of a lack of creativity.

It’s appealing to people who don’t think too deeply about things.
Yes. It’s meaningless.

I think it depends entirely on context.

I routinely view the claim with skepticism. I’ve seen an amateur writer hereabouts bill herself as an “award-winning poet” because one poem of hers won a fourth-place certificate in a local writers’ club contest that had about 70 entries.

In fact, the more audacious claim there was not “award-winning” but “poet.”

I am an award-winning person because I got voted one of the “most” categories in my high school yearbook, and 15 years ago I actually won a short-story competition of about 30 entries in the same writers’ club. All it means is a little momentary boost of confidence and a few congratulations, and otherwise it’s just for fun. Nobody treats you with more respect because of it.

I’m giving this question the Golden Loon Seal of Approval.

You’re welcome.

Let me know how it goes.

@zenvelo: Exactly. Boston Magazine’s and The Improper Bostonian’s “Best of Boston” awards work the same way.

When I worked in marketing, the place I worked for tried to get nominated, much less win the “Best Produce” (it was a farm) award for years with no luck.

When I started there, I bought $20K worth of advertising from them and lo and behold that year, we were nominated.

We won the next year.

To me it is. Give Beyonce all the awards you want I still won’t listen to her music. Whatever.

Depends on who is giving he award. Mostly, it means nothing to me.

Some designations I care about. Like when Erin McKenna won best brownie in New York City for her brownie that meant something to me, it did compel me to buy one the first time. So good.

Coming from a bona fide “award winning” poet, I can confirm that it is in fact bullshit. A “Pulitzer Prize winning journalist” means something, an “award winning” one only means they have never won anything that other people would recognize by name.

Some of these awards, average people vote for the winner. A friend of mine who’s an author posts on Facebook to vote for her. She’s good at marketing herself.

Seems like everything is “award-winning” these days. To the people who are easily impressed by that kind of thing it’ll have meaning, but over time it gets less impressive. Guess it depends lol

Sometimes it’s true that it did win a award somewhere while other times it just won there company’s award.

It depends on how meaningless (or meaningful) the award(s) are/were.