Seven Aspirational Honors of Prestige

121003_SCI_nobelcer.jpg.CROP.rectangle3-largeWe all like to get awarded, recognized and honored at some point in our life. People have the need to be appreciated for their efforts, contributions and accolades from a really young age. Maybe this is one of the main reasons we tend to be so competitive with each other from the early days at school until we get in the university or when we get our first job. It’s all about being the best, either on a local or preferably global basis. Here’s a list of seven awards and honors of our generation that some people would kill for or die tryin’ to get.

7. Miss Universe

ht_06_today_pictures_wm_nt_121220_wblog

OK… we are ready and open to accept all kinds of harsh criticism for this choice since Gunaxin is a man’s territory, but let’s think about it for a minute. We live in a world where vanity conquers and rules, a world where looks can open doors for a series of opportunities in life. For that reason alone, we decided to include the specific title in our list.

Miss Universe is an annual international beauty contest, where women from all around the world participate. The pageant is owned by Donald Trump, and gets coverage from nearly 60 countries with over 300 million people watching it every year. Hate it or love it, the facts speak for themselves in this case.

6. Pulitzer Prize

pulitzer1

A Pulitzer Prize is for journalists what an Olympic medal is for every athlete or an Academy Award for most actors. It’s the ultimate international honor regarding journalism, but that’s not the case for every category, since only U.S. citizens are eligible to apply for the prizes in Letters, Drama and Music. Luckily for the non American professionals in the Journalism category –which is the most significant by the way– entrants may be of any nationality, but their work must have appeared in a U.S. newspaper that is published at least once a week, or on an online news organization’s Web site.

5. Time Person of the Year

time-person-of-the-year-the-protestor__oPt

The Time Person of the Year is an annual award given from the American based news magazine Time, and usually features a person, a group of people or even an idea that influenced the world the most for that year.

The tradition of selecting the Person of the Year goes back to 1927, when it was called Man of the Year. Since then the specific honor has been given regularly at the end of every year.

Politics play probably the biggest role in the selection of the Person of the Year, while the term “that for better or for worse, has done the most to influence….” justifies how people like Adolf Hitler and Josephin Stalin among others, have won the specific honor.

4. Grammy Award

2012-grammy-awards-adele

A Grammy award probably meant more at one time than it does today. Unfortunately today there are way too many categories and the specific music Awards have lost their prestige and “magic”. At one time, winning a Grammy meant a huge increase in album sales and popularity. In the old days with only a few channels around, just about everyone watched the Grammy awards. Even though the music industry has drastically changed in the past few years and everything is about digital sales and YouTube views nowadays, judging from the reactions of today’s winners, it still must be a big thing winning a Grammy, especially if you are a lesser-known artist. One way or another, we must confess that we still love and watch the Grammy Awards.

3. Oscars

oscars-MCT“And the Oscar goes to…” is unarguably one of the most famous quotes of popular culture for decades now. Let’s be honest with the obvious in this case, even if you hate to death all this fakeness and vanity surrounding the specific ceremonies, it’s sort of fun to watch the Oscars. Even if you don’t watch any of the other award ceremonies in the entertainment industry, you have probably watched the Oscar awards at least once. The glamorous celebrities, the fancy dresses, the fashion, the backstage gossip, the drama, the fake tears and tons of make-up are definitely worth the watch, or observe as a bizarre phenomenon if you are into metaphysics. Maybe that’s the reason why the Oscar Awards ceremony is hated by many, but at the same time one of the most watched events in the world every year.

2. Olympic Medal

london-olympics-swimm_hasc-27_mugshot_four_by_three_s620x465

Without a doubt the most ancient and still active award a human can still win is an Olympic Medal. According to historical records, the first ancient Olympic Games can be traced back to 776 BC and they are still going strong today, nearly three thousand years later. Some of the Olympic medalists are considered national heroes in their native countries and the reception they receive in the airport after an Olympic victory is similar to this of a president. American swimmer, Michael Phelps, is the most decorated Olympian of all time, with 22 medals won, 18 of them being gold. It’s quite an achievement if one thinks how there are still whole nations that have never won a single medal.

1. Nobel Prize

large-nobel-chemistry-medalThe undisputed champion and the highest honor someone can get in any field of human activity. They got their name from Swedish philanthropist Alfred Nobel and they were given for the very first time back in 1895. The Nobel Prize is widely regarded as the most prestigious award available in the fields of literature, medicine, physics, chemistry, peace, and economics.

The nomination for the science awards is done in a different way and by different people (the Swedes) than the peace prize, which is awarded by the Norwegians. In recent years, there has been plenty of controversy and there have been a few cases where someone who should have won the award, was ignored in favor of someone who had lesser contributions. Nonetheless, the science awards are considered the top awards, even if they do not always go to the most deserving participant in that research.

For one to realize the significance of the specific institutional, some of the most notable Nobel laureates include Madame Curie, Martin Luther King Jr, Albert Einstein, Alexander Fleming and Mother Teresa among other great historical figures.