History Main / RealAwardFictionalCharacter

* ''Anime/DigimonSavers'': In the DistantFinale, it's revealed that Thomas Norstein won a Nobel Prize for finding the cure for his sister Relena's illness.

* The Lifetime Achievement Award of the MTV Movie Awards has been given to Franchise/{{Godzilla}}, [[StarWars Chewbacca]] and [[Franchise/FridayThe13th Jason Voorhees]].

* ''ComicBook/{{Batwoman}}'': As a West Point cadet, Kate Kane earned the Recondo Badge, the Basic Parachutist Badge, and the Air Assault Badge. She also received the National Defense Service Medal.

* In ''[[Literature/HoratioHornblower Flying Colours]]'', while disguising Hornblower as a Dutch customs officer, the Comte de Graçay gives him his late son's Legion of Honour, saying that no one achieves the rank of colonel in Bonapartist France without receiving the Legion of Honour. The Comte de Graçay mentions that he does not care about a trinket of the tyrant, but he would like to have a memento of his son returned when most convenient.

* In ''Series/{{Friends}}'', Ross is taken aback to learn that, until him, his HotScientist girlfriend Charlie has only dated Nobel Prize winners. One of them appears in a later episode and wins her back.

* ''Franchise/XMen'' supporting character Moira [=MacTaggert=], a Nobel Prize-winning geneticist.

Common choices include a Nobel Prize for the intellectuals, Pulitzer Prize for the IntrepidReporter, a country-appropriate medal of honor for military personnel, the Tony/[[UsefulNotes/AcademyAward Oscar]]/[[UsefulNotes/GrammyAward Grammy]]/Emmy for performers, and [[UsefulNotes/OlympicGames Olympic]] medals for athletes.

* ''ComicBook/{{Spiderman}}'': Peter Parker won the Pulitzer Prize for Photography for his pictures of Spider-Man. After he revealed to the world that he ''was'' Spider-Man in ''ComicBook/CivilWar'', he was sued by J. Jonah Jameson for essentially selling him pictures of himself, but no word if his prize was in danger of being revoked as well.

[[folder: Webcomics]]
* In the contemporary arc of ''Webcomic/ArthurKingOfTimeAndSpace'', Guenevere is part of the Olympic showjumping team who [[http://arthurkingoftimeandspace.com/1553.htm won the gold in 2008]].
* Quantum Cop won the Nobel Prize in ''Webcomic/CaseyAndAndy''. It was presented to him by the King of Sweden, who then became TheThingThatWouldNotLeave for the duration of the strip.

See also ArtisticLicenseAwards for outright mistakes in the portrayal of awards. May overlap with RememberWhenYouBlewUpASun.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook1967'', Colonel Hathi claims to have gotten the Victoria Cross while serving in the British army. This is unlikely, considering he's an elephant.[[note]]It is just possible that Hathi, who is terminally confused, may actually mean the Dickin Medal, which is the equivalent of a VC for animals. In RealLife, the Dickin Medal has never been awarded to an elephant.[[/note]]

* Subverted in ''Series/MuppetsTonight'', when Gonzo claims that his production of ''Theatre/DeathOfASalesman Death of a Transdimensional Giant Mutant Cyborg Salesman]]'' won a Pulitzer Prize, but when challenged, downgrades this to "Well, my mother liked it."

* Subverted in ''Series/MuppetsTonight'', when Gonzo claims that his production of ''Theatre/DeathOfASalesman Death of a Two-Headed Mutant Salesman From Outer Space]]'' won a Pulitzer Prize, but when challenged, downgrades this to "Well, my mother liked it."

* The plot of ''Film/CourageUnderFire'' revolves around Army Captain Karen Emma Waldon being posthumously evaluated to be the first woman to be awarded the Medal of Honor. (This is technically incorrect: the first Medal of Honor was awarded to Capt. Mary Edwards Walker, an Army surgeon during the Civil War, though at the time the Medal of Honor was the only military decoration the United States had.)

* In ''Series/BreakingBad'', Elliott Schwartz [[https://weakinteractions.wordpress.com/2009/06/15/the-science-of-breaking-bad-pilot/ won a Nobel Prize on Chemistry helped by Walter White's research]].

* In ''Film/ForrestGump'', Gump is awarded the Medal of Honor for saving four members of his platoon in Vietnam and getting ShotInTheAss in the process.

* In ''VideOGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps'', the player is able to find a computer in the back of the room the main menu is set in, through which they can access email accounts for the player character Alex Mason (among others). One of the emails reveals that Mason competed in the Wimbledon Cup and took first place in the 1953 competition.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'': When Jimmy peeks into his and his friends' futures in one episode, he sees himself as the first-ever winner of the Nobel Prize in bulk.

* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'': Throughout his appearances, Cotton's decorations are slowly revealed. In "Returning Japanese", his uniform includes the Medal of Honor and American Campaign Medal. In "Cotton Comes Marching Home" his Silver Star is shown in a display case in the Arlen VFW. In season twelve, he shown wearing the third class, Commandeur, of the French Legion of Honour - the highest decoration in France and only awarded to a handful of Americans during the war.
* Jay Sherman, the title character of ''WesternAnimation/TheCritic'', already a Pulitzer winner, is given another Pulitzer for criticism in one episode.
** In his guest appearance in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons", he's also shown to have won a People's Choice Award, five Golden Globes, and an Emmy.
* A late episode of ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' reveals that the Professor has a Nobel Prize... ForScience He tosses it aside to make room for a trophy he won in a chili cook-off.
* ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'':
** [=BoJack's=] book, ''One Trick Pony'', ends up winning a [[UsefulNotes/GoldenGlobeAward Golden Globe]].
** [[spoiler:Sarah Lynn ends up winning a Best Original Song [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAward Oscar]]. Sadly, she doesn't get to enjoy it, as she dies from a drug overdose shortly thereafter]].
* William Nekton from ''WesternAnimation/TheDeep'' is an Olympic gold medalist in swimming.
* WesternAnimation/MightyMouse testifies in court on his own behalf regarding the disappearance of Scrappy Mouse ("Anatomy of a Milquetoast"). In taking the oath, he holds a gold statue with ACT engraved on it. ''Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures'' had been cited as a quality show by the committee Action for Children's Television.

* In the fifth ''Literature/{{Spellsinger}}'' book, when the heroes are trapped in their respective {{Lotus Eater Machine}}s, Jon-Tom dreams of being a famous singer, and there are rumors that "because of the penetrating and powerful social commentary contained in his lyrics, the Nobel committee in Stockholm was giving serious consideration to awarding him a special prize".
* ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'': Mulch Diggums, finding the life of a (rich) law-abiding citizen in the human world to be unbearably boring, soon resorts to kleptomania, stealing Oscars from (fictional) Hollywood stars.

* In ''Literature/{{Desperation}}'', Johnny Marinville, a burnt-out writer in the present had once won the National Book Award.
* In ''Literature/{{Cujo}}'', Gary Pervier served in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, where he had single-handedly taken a German pillbox, and was hit by six bullets. For this, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. After the war, Gary became an alcoholic and developed a nihilistic outlook on life, and he eventually had the medal made into an ashtray.
* The group of futurists in "Literature/TomorrowTown" is led by two UsefulNotes/HugoAward winners. The story even specifies the years and categories: Varno Zhoule won Best Short Story 1957 and Best Novelette 1958, and Georgie Gewell won Best Fan Editor 1958. (In real life, the Hugo Award categories were not standardised until the 1960s, and those categories were not awarded in those years.)

* In ''Literature/{{Kim}}'' both Colonel Creighton and Hurree Chunder Mookerjee dream of being inducted into the Royal Society for their legitimate ethnological research.
* The book version of ''Literature/TheAndromedaStrain'' mentions that Wildfire team leader and founder Jeremy Stone is a Nobel Prize winner in the field of biology.
* Literature/JackRyan's wife Cathy is nominated for and ultimately wins a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lasker_Award Lasker Award]] for her work in opthalmic surgery in one of the later books.
* ''Literature/TheLastOfTheReallyGreatWhangdoodles'': There's a newspaper report near the beginning about Professor Savant being awarded the Nobel Prize for his work in genetics.

* ''Literature/TomorrowTown'' by Kim Newell is probably the only example of this trope in which a fictional character is ''bludgeoned to death'' with his own real award, a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Award Hugo]] to be precise.

* In the ''Series/QuantumLeap'' episode "The Wrong Stuff", Sam mentions winning the Nobel Prize for Physics.
* President Bartlet on ''Series/TheWestWing'' has a Nobel for economics.
* Not quite a formal award, but in the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS7E24AllGoodThings All Good Things...]]" the version of Data from 25 years in the future holds the Lucasian Chair of Mathematics at Cambridge. This post has been held by such real-world luminaries as Isaac Newton, Stephen Hawking, and Charles Babbage.
* ''Series/StargateSG1''
** In "[[Recap/StargateSG1S2E9Secrets Secrets]]" Jack and Sam are each awarded the Air Medal for destroying two of Apophis's motherships that tried to invade Earth at the season 1/season 2 changeover. (Daniel and Teal'c were there, too, but they're civilians and aren't eligible.) The cover story is that they got the medal for their work in "deep-space satellite telemetry" (which Sam's father Gen. Jacob Carter rightly calls BS on, seeing as how the Air Medal is awarded for air missions in combat zones).
** A flashback in "[[Recap/StargateSG1S9E1AvalonPart1 Avalon, Part 1]]" establishes new SG-1 CO Cameron Mitchell as a Medal of Honor recipient (erroneously referring to it as the Congressional Medal of Honor), which he received after he was shot down while covering SG-1 in an F-302 back in "[[Recap/StargateSG1S7E22LostCityPart2 Lost City, Part 2]]": he brought down an attacking ''al'kesh'' despite the fact he'd already been hit twice and his GuyInBack killed.
* ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}''. Kramer is accidentally whisked on stage during a Tony's ceremony, where he receives one with the cast and crew of the fictional Broadway musical, ''Scarsdale Surprise''. The producers eventually discover the error, and make a deal with him that he can keep the Tony if he'll fire Creator/RaquelWelch, because they're too afraid to do it themselves. After being brutally attacked, Kramer's Tony is smashed to pieces.

* ''Series/MagnumPI'': Thomas Magnum is described as a Navy Cross recipient for heroism in Vietnam.

* In ''Series/{{Friends}}'', Ross is taken aback to learn that, until him, his HotScientist girlfriend Charlie has only dated Nobel Prize winners. One of them appears in a later episode and wins her back.
* In ''Series/{{Glee}}'', swim coach Roz Washington won the Olympic bronze medal in synchronized swimming. Not only will she let everyone know, but she wears it everywhere she goes:
-->"I won this bronze damn Olympic medal in UsefulNotes/{{Beijing}}, China! I had noodles with the president, and [[BreadEggsMilkSquick a threesome with Michael Phelps]]."
** Another notable example occurs in the DistantFinale, which shows Rachel winning a Tony for her performance in a musical based off the work of Creator/JaneAusten.
* In ''Series/BreakingBad'', Elliott Schwartz [[https://weakinteractions.wordpress.com/2009/06/15/the-science-of-breaking-bad-pilot/ won a Nobel Prize on Chemistry helped by Walter White's research]].
* ''Series/{{Quantico}}'' cites Ryan Booth, a former Marine, as a Bronze Star recipient. [[spoiler:Given that he's not actually an FBI cadet but rather a full-fledged agent undercover, it's unclear whether he actually received it.]]
* ''Series/{{Endeavour}}'': In "Harvest", Thursday and Morse are both awarded the George Cross for preventing an act of terrorism at a nuclear power station.
* Jack Frost in ''Series/ATouchOfFrost'' is another George Cross recipient. In this instance, it's an important plot point since a lot of his more questionable behaviour is tolerated as a result of him being a decorated hero, effectively giving him UltimateJobSecurity.
* The GrandFinale of ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' is about Dr. Sheldon Cooper and Dr. Amy Ferrah-Fowler winning the Nobel Prize for their discovery of superasymmetry.
* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'':
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E85ShowdownWithRanceMcGrew Showdown with Rance McGrew]]", the title character tells UsefulNotes/JesseJames that he has been nominated for two [[UsefulNotes/EmmyAward Emmys]]. The unimpressed James thinks that [=McGrew=] did not deserve to be nominated.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E102TheChangingOfTheGuard The Changing of the Guard]]", Artie Beechcroft received the Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously for his heroism during the Battle of Iwo Jima.
* Dex Parios from ''[[Series/Stumptown2019 Stumptown]]'' served in the Marines, and received the Legion of Merit, the Purple Heart, the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, the Iraq Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, the Marines Overseas Service Ribbon, the Canadian Meritorious Service Cross, the Rifle Expert Badge, and the Pistol Expert Badge.
* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': In "Time and Teresa Golowitz", Bluestone tells Nelson Baxley that he will go into television production and win two [[UsefulNotes/EmmyAward Emmys]] in the future.

* [[ComicBook/{{Spiderman}} Peter Parker]] won the Pulitzer Prize for Photography for his pictures of Spider-Man. After he revealed to the world that he ''was'' Spider-Man in ''ComicBook/CivilWar'', he was sued by J. Jonah Jameson for essentially selling him pictures of himself, but no word if his prize was in danger of being revoked as well.
* Michael ComicBook/{{Morbius}} won a Nobel Prize for his blood-related research.
* As a West Point cadet, [[ComicBook/{{Batwoman}} Kate Kane]] earned the Recondo Badge, the Basic Parachutist Badge, and the Air Assault Badge. She also received the National Defense Service Medal.
* PlayedForLaughs in an issue of ''Totally Awesome Hulk'', in which ComicBook/AmadeusCho met with ComicBook/BlackPanther. Apparently, T'Challa has twice been named "Person of the Year" by ''Magazine/TimeMagazine'', and has been named "Sexiest Man Alive" by ''People Magazine'' six times.
* In ''ComicBook/LoriLovecraft'', WhiteDwarfStarlet Danke Schoen won two Oscars before her career faded.

* At the end of ''Film/BeCool'', Linda Moon's pop single that Chili Palmer helped her produce wins her a Grammy.
* ''Film/TropicThunder'': Kirk Lazarus is a multiple-Oscar-winning actor. The film-about-the-making-of-the-film-within-the-film itself picks up a number of Oscars and Lazarus delivers one to main star Tugg Speedman [[ArtisticLicenseAwards (even if Best Actor is always delivered by an actress)]].

* At the opening of ''Film/AllAboutEve'', Eve is being awarded the Sarah Siddons Award for Distinguished Achievement, an award for acting. This was a fictional award at the time, but was later {{Defictionalized}} as a regional award in Chicago.

* We are told that James Marshall, Harrison Ford's character in ''Film/AirForceOne'', received a Medal of Honor for flying combat rescue operations in Vietnam.
* In the original ''Film/TheKarateKid1984'' Daniel walks in on a very drunk Mr. Miyagi dressed up in a UsefulNotes/WorldWarII-era US Army uniform. It turns out his EccentricMentor earned the Medal of Honor serving in Europe in the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/442nd_Infantry_Regiment_(United_States) 442nd Infantry Regiment]], a ''nisei'' (Japanese-American) unit. TruthInTelevision: Adjusted for size and time active, the 442nd is the most decorated military unit in American history, and most of those medals, including 21 [=MOHs=], were given for the European theatre.
* ''Film/NationalLampoonsEuropeanVacation'' opens with the Griswolds facing off with a family of geniuses on a game show. The parents are both Nobel Prize winners and the kids are no less brilliant. The Griswolds win anyway...by accident.
* In ''Film/ForrestGump'', Gump is awarded the Medal of Honor for saving four members of his platoon in Vietnam and getting ShotInTheAss in the process.

* ''Film/TheOscar'' has Frankie Fane being nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor, [[spoiler:only to see the Oscar be awarded to Music/FrankSinatra instead]].

* ''Film/TheHudsuckerProxy'': Not only is Amy Archer established as having won a Pulitzer Prize, others in her office are shown making bets as to if and when she'll bring it up in conversation.
* In the second movie version of ''Film/AllQuietOnTheWesternFront'', corporal Himmelstoß is decorated with an Iron Cross (2nd class) by Wilhelm II himself.
* In ''Film/DieAnotherDay'', Miranda Frost is mentioned as having won a gold medal in fencing... because the winner wound up dying of a drug overdose.
* Part of ''Film/RedSparrow'''s resolution includes [[spoiler:Dominika]] being awarded the Gold Star (the Russian equivalent of the Medal of Honor) for [[spoiler:(falsely) exposing her uncle as the CIA's mole in SVR]].
* {{Defied}} in ''Film/K19TheWidowmaker''. In the DistantFinale (set at the fall of the Berlin Wall; the rest of the film is in 1959), Captain Vostrikov reveals to the survivors of the crew that he nominated the twenty men who died working on ''K-19'''s reactor as posthumous Heroes of the Soviet Union. He bitterly goes on that this was rejected because they died due to a peacetime reactor accident rather than in war.
* The plot of ''Film/CourageUnderFire'' revolves around Army Captain Karen Emma Waldon being posthumously evaluated to be the first woman to be awarded the Medal of Honor. (This is technically incorrect: the first Medal of Honor was awarded to Capt. Mary Edwards Walker, an Army surgeon during the Civil War, though at the time the Medal of Honor was the only military decoration the United States had.)
* In ''Film/TheRevengers'', John Gilbert is a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor during his service in the Civil War. This is relevant to the plot, as it entitles his son Morgan to attend West Point.
* In ''Film/{{Blackenstein}}'', Dr. Stein has a Nobel Prize for his work in solving the DNA sequencing problem. Bizarrely, Winifred that he received a Peace Prize for his work, rather than the far more likely Prize for Physiology or Medicine.
* In ''Film/TheFly1986'', Seth Brundle almost won the Nobel Prize for Physics ''at the age of 20'' as the leader of [[NoodleIncident "the F32 team"]]. Interestingly, his eventual love interest Veronica only learns about this from her editor/ex-lover Stathis (who's having research done on Seth out of jealousy). Later on, as Seth undergoes a SlowTransformation into a HalfHumanHybrid due to an accident involving his teleporter, he notes that "I'm becoming 'Brundlefly'. Don't you think that's worth a Nobel Prize or two?"
* At the end of ''Film/{{SOB}}'', Sally Miles (Creator/JulieAndrews) wins an Oscar for her performance in ''[[FilmWithinAFilm Night Wind]]''.