It is also awards season. Everywhere you turn, someone is being crowned, celebrated, photographed, or thanked for the tireless service. From music awards to influencer awards to Best Office Vibes Champion 2025, December has become one long acceptance speech. But the biggest lesson award organisers have learned in recent years is simple: everybody must win. If you attended, posed for photos, and survived the MC’s jokes, you deserved something. And so new categories are invented on the spot just to make sure no one goes home empty-handed. Best Dressed (Male). Best Dressed (Female). Most Consistent. Most Improved. Most Supportive. Best Energy. Best Attendance. Best Smile Under Pressure. By the end of the night, even the cameraman is receiving “Outstanding Contribution to Visual Storytelling.”
Companies have embraced this philosophy with enthusiasm. Some offices worked so hard at inclusivity that almost everyone walked away with Employee of the Year. Everyone is outstanding. Everyone exceeded expectations. Even the person who disappears after lunch has a certificate for quiet Consistency.
It’s beautiful. It’s warm. It’s very Ubuntu. We clap for it. But also… what was the point? When everyone is a winner, no one is really winning. Healthy competition dies quietly in the corner, sipping soda and wondering why it even tried. Awards are supposed to make people sweat a little, improve a little, and secretly resent the colleague who always performs too well. That resentment is fuel. It builds character.
Let’s be honest there are friends we cannot emotionally handle seeing win certain awards. You know them. The ones who show up late, do the bare minimum, then suddenly receive “Most Dedicated Employee.” Pain. Pure pain. At that point, it’s not even about merit it’s about psychological warfare. And yet, we still love it. We love the applause. We love the photos. We love the captions that say grateful and humbled. Still, for banter’s sake, let’s allow a little merit-based chaos next year. Let someone lose. Let someone cry inside. Let competition breathe.
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