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1-> '''Sick Boy''': All I'm trying to do, Mark, is help you understand that ''Film/TheNameOfTheRose'' was merely a blip on an otherwise uninterrupted downward trajectory.\
2'''Renton''': What about ''Film/{{The Untouchables|1987}}''?\
3'''Sick Boy''': I don't rate that at all.\
4'''Renton''': Despite the Academy Award?\
5'''Sick Boy''': That means fuck all! It's a sympathy vote.
6-->-- ''Film/{{Trainspotting}}'' on the subject of Creator/SeanConnery
7
8What may happen as a result of someone getting one too many {{Award Snub}}s. Basically, someone in the entertainment industry has gone too long without winning a particular award, despite their work being considered some of the best in their field. Eventually, they do end up winning the award... but for something considered pretty inferior to the rest of their work.
9
10Ironically, this ends up continuing the cycle of snubs, since, well, ''someone'' better has to lose.
11
12----
13!!Examples:
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15[[foldercontrol]]
16[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
17* It's pretty much acknowledged that Music/RandyNewman only won the Oscar for Best Song in 2002 ("If I Didn't Have You", from ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'') because it was one of the weakest years for that category and Newman had already lost many times.
18* A common criticism of the Best Animated Feature category in the Oscars is that it was made as [[AnimationAgeGhetto a consolation prize for animated films]] (or, alternately, that it was created after ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'' nearly won Best Picture and the Academy wanted to prevent an animated film from winning that award). This came to a head in 2008 when ''WesternAnimation/WallE'' won the Best Animated Feature award but wasn't nominated for Best Picture, despite being one of the best-reviewed films of the year. Despite this, the Academy said that an animated film can be nominated in both categories. In the years ahead, the amount of films eligible for nomination for Best Picture doubled and ''WesternAnimation/{{Up}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'' got nominated consecutively.
19** Also, the award used to be voted upon by Academy members each year. It wasn't until the 2012 ceremony that it became a permanent category.
20** At the 2013 ceremony of both the Academy Awards and Golden Globes, ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}'' was the winner despite getting weaker critical responses than most of the other animated movies that year (namely fellow Best Animated Picture nominees ''WesternAnimation/{{Frankenweenie}}'', ''WesternAnimation/ParaNorman'', ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'', and ''WesternAnimation/ThePiratesBandOfMisfits''). There was big controversy surrounding ''Brave'' and the fact that their first female director, Brenda Chapman, got fired from the project. The fact that she went on stage to accept the award with the crew made it ''too'' coincidental. Others saw the victory as the Academy was kissing Pixar's asses. The next year, ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}'' came out and won both the Globe and the Oscar which some consider a consolation award for ''Wreck-It Ralph''.
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23[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
24* Creator/PeterOToole was nominated eight times for the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, making him the most-nominated actor never to win the award (tied with Creator/GlennClose). In 2003, he instead received an Academy Honorary Award for his entire body of work and his lifelong contribution to film. Well gee, thanks a lot, Academy. O'Toole received another Best Actor nomination afterwards for Venus (2006), only to lose to Creator/ForestWhitaker for ''Film/TheLastKingOfScotland''.
25* Creator/JeanPaulBelmondo won the French César Award for Best Actor in 1989 for ''Itinéraire d'un enfant gâté''. He didn't show up at the ceremony, and explained ten years later in an interview: "Awards? You've got to give them when actors are young. It was I-don't-know-how-much years that they didn't give me any award, so I didn't want to earn one. Not out of bitterness, but I think when I was young I would have loved to earn a prize, I didn't get one. I think young actors should be rewarded and not the actors who have made a long career."
26* This trope's DistaffCounterpart to O'Toole is Creator/DeborahKerr, who earned six Academy Award nominations for Best Actress in a Leading Role over a twelve year period from 1950-1961, and lost all six, coming up short on her last try to Elizabeth Taylor's consolation Oscar for ''Butterfield 8'' (see below). She also received four BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) nominations for Best Actress in her native Great Britain and lost all four of those too, making her the most-nominated performer never to win Best Actress in TWO countries. Both the British and American Academies finally and belatedly presented her with Honorary Awards for lifetime achievement in the 1990s, more than two decades after she had effectively retired from acting.
27* Creator/MartinScorsese's ''Film/TheDeparted'' is not widely considered to be one of his best (though it's still considered a very, very good movie). So, one can't help but wonder if this trope was in effect when it won Best Picture and he won Best Director, after decades of Scorsese's work never getting the honor. Arguably, though, it might also because it was the most successful movie out of that year's Best Picture nominees.
28** Its wins for Screenplay and Editing (which some thought might go to ACE award co-winner ''Film/{{Babel}}'') also suggest otherwise. Some even expected ''Babel'' to win Best Picture and Scorsese to win Best Director, which would have been more indicative of a Consolation Award.
29** An important trend to remember about Scorsese was that his more critically acclaimed movies that many feel he should have previously won for [[note]]''Film/TaxiDriver'', ''Film/RagingBull'', ''Film/TheLastTemptationOfChrist'', ''Film/GoodFellas''[[/note]] were all VindicatedByHistory. At the time of their releases controversy actually overshadowed the films themselves leading to their snubs year in and out.
30* Creator/CecilBDeMille's 1952 film ''Film/TheGreatestShowOnEarth'' is considered by many to be one of the worst films to ever win Best Picture. Some suspect the only reason it got the award was because [=DeMille=]'s films had never won one yet, despite the man's career dating all the way back to the silent era. Ironically, they could have just waited a few years and given it to his last film and one of his best -- ''Film/TheTenCommandments1956''. Instead, it lost Best Picture and [[AwardSnub DeMille wasn't even nominated as Best Director]].
31** And incidentally, one film that wasn't even nominated for Best Picture in 1952? ''Film/SinginInTheRain!''
32* Creator/JohnWayne's Best Actor win in 1969 for ''Film/TrueGrit'' is seen as a consolation for him not winning the award for his work in films like ''Film/RedRiver'', ''Film/TheQuietMan'', ''Film/TheSearchers'', and ''Film/SandsOfIwoJima'' (though Wayne was at least nominated for the latter, many including himself felt he should have been nominated for ''Film/SheWoreAYellowRibbon''). To this day, majority of people strongly feel that Creator/DustinHoffman should have one his much deserved Best Actor Oscar for his gritty, heartbreaking performance in ''Film/MidnightCowboy''.
33* Creator/HenryFonda finally won a Best Actor Oscar for ''Film/OnGoldenPond'', the last movie he ever made. Notably, this came just a year after he won an Honorary Oscar (like Paul Newman below), but the idea that he was horribly overdue for an award was so strong that '''no one''' expected any of his fellow four nominees[[note]]Creator/WarrenBeatty for ''Film/{{Reds}}'', Creator/BurtLancaster -- who already won in this category -- for ''Atlantic City'' , Creator/DudleyMoore for ''Film/Arthur1981'', and Newman for ''Absence of Malice''; Beatty actually won at the same ceremony for '''directing''' ''Reds''[[/note]] to beat him. It softened the blow that the movie ''was'' a huge box office hit -- the second-biggest of 1981.
34* By the time 2009 rolled around, Creator/KateWinslet had been nominated six times and had yet to win an Oscar. What makes people believe that this occurred is that she won Best Actress for ''Literature/TheReader,'' even though she won the Golden Globe for Best ''Supporting'' Actress for the same role. Interestingly, she also won Best Lead Actress at the Golden Globes that year, but for ''Film/RevolutionaryRoad''. Many people believed that she deserved to win for ''Film/EternalSunshineOfTheSpotlessMind'', as well as ''Film/RevolutionaryRoad'',''Film/{{Titanic|1997}}'', '' Film/SenseAndSensibility'' and ''Film/LittleChildren''.
35* Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio has built a solid body of work since ''Film/{{Titanic|1997}}'' and some would argue that the films he made before winning for ''Film/TheRevenant'', had better performances: ''Film/CatchMeIfYouCan'', ''Film/TheAviator'', ''Film/TheDeparted'', ''Film/ShutterIsland'', ''Film/RevolutionaryRoad'', ''Film/{{Inception}}'' and especially ''Film/TheWolfOfWallStreet'', which leads them to see ''The Revenant'' as a case of consolation award.
36* Creator/AlPacino got a Best Actor Oscar in 1992 for ''Film/ScentOfAWoman'', despite the role not being nearly as critically acclaimed as ''Film/TheGodfather'', ''Film/TheGodfatherPartII'' or ''Film/DogDayAfternoon''.
37** Arguably ''Film/TheGodfather'' was this for Creator/MarlonBrando. Pacino was nominated for Best Supporting Actor. It could be argued the nominations should have been reversed as Michael is really the protagonist and has more screen time than Vito who spends a good portion of the movie recovering from multiple gunshots.
38* An example of the cycle continuing: In 2001, Creator/NicoleKidman was nominated for ''Film/MoulinRouge'', but lost to Creator/HalleBerry. The next year, she won for ''Literature/TheHours'', a film that has been all but forgotten.
39** However, in doing so, she beat Creator/ReneeZellweger in ''Film/{{Chicago}}'', who ended up winning Best Supporting Actress in 2003 for ''Film/ColdMountain''. A lot of the reviews of ''Cold Mountain'' actually contained comments along the lines of "just give Renée the Oscar already" (NOTE: She had been nominated for Best Actress in 2001 as well, for ''Literature/BridgetJones's Diary''.
40** Kidman's win also came at the expense of Creator/JulianneMoore's performance in ''Film/FarFromHeaven'', which had previously won the Best Actress prize at the Broadcast Film Critics Choice, Los Angeles Film Critics, and National Board of Review Awards and came in second place at the New York Film Critics Circle. Creator/JulianneMoore's win for ''Film/StillAlice'' in 2014 was seen in large part consolation for not having won for ''Film/FarFromHeaven'' or ''Film/BoogieNights'' (as she lost the latter prize to Creator/KimBasinger in ''Film/LAConfidential''), as many feel Creator/ReeseWitherspoon should've won for her performance in ''Film/{{Wild}}''.
41* One of the more infamous of these was Creator/PaulNewman winning for his work in a sequel to ''Film/TheHustler1961'', ''Film/TheColorOfMoney'', because he'd been snubbed decades earlier for his work in the original. Moreover, he'd just received an Honorary Oscar the previous year!
42** For that matter, he didn't win for the likes of ''Film/{{Hud}}'', ''Film/CoolHandLuke'' and ''Film/TheVerdict''.
43** To make matters worse, even then critics such as Siskel and Ebert were calling out the Academy for not at least nominating Creator/JeffGoldblum for ''Film/TheFly1986'' because of the [[SciFiGhetto ghettoization of sci-fi and horror films]], and decades on that particular performance is better remembered/regarded than those of the five nominees.
44* Possibly the most famous (or infamous) of these is that Creator/AlfredHitchcock never won an Oscar as a director (though ''Film/{{Rebecca|1940}}'' won Best Picture). The Academy gave him a lifetime achievement award, which he deserved anyway, but it was mostly an apology for never giving him an award for ''Film/{{Vertigo}}'', ''Film/{{Psycho}}'', ''Film/NorthByNorthwest'', ''Film/TheBirds'', ''Theatre/{{Rope}}'', ''Film/StrangersOnATrain'', ''Film/TheManWhoKnewTooMuch'', ''Film/ToCatchAThief'', ''Film/DialMForMurder'', ''Film/RearWindow'', ''Film/{{Marnie}}''...
45* The first two installments of ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' trilogy received nothing but technical awards. The final installment received just about ''every'' (non-acting) Oscar. The Academy was apparently reluctant to hand out big awards to the early installments for fear of clogging up the awards for the next three years, and decided to treat the last installment as a catch-all summation of the trilogy.
46* Creator/DenzelWashington's work in ''Film/TrainingDay'', after losing for ''Film/TheHurricane'' and ''Film/MalcolmX''.
47* Creator/RussellCrowe's win for ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'' might have been a consolation award for not winning for ''Film/TheInsider'', which was generally thought to be a stronger performance but like Denzel with ''Film/TheHurricane'', lost to Creator/KevinSpacey in ''Film/AmericanBeauty'' (then an even more lauded performance by Crowe in ''Film/ABeautifulMind'' lost to Denzel in ''Film/TrainingDay'').
48* Creator/ElizabethTaylor's 1960 Oscar for ''[=Butterfield 8=]'', a film that's forgotten, and she didn't even want to do (she called it "a piece of garbage"). She was nominated in 1957 for ''Film/RaintreeCounty'', in 1958 for ''Theatre/CatOnAHotTinRoof'' and in 1959 for ''Film/SuddenlyLastSummer'', of which the latter two are considered classics. It's widely thought that she won by a vote of sympathy, because of her recent near-fatal illness - Taylor herself agreed with this in her book ''Elizabeth Takes Off''.
49* On the subject of Golden Age stars, while Creator/HumphreyBogart gave his usual quality performance in ''Film/TheAfricanQueen'' opposite fellow screen legend Creator/KatharineHepburn, it is universally agreed that his Oscar for that film was ''actually'' for his work in ''Film/{{The Maltese Falcon|1941}}'' and ''Film/{{Casablanca}}'', for which he was ignored.
50* James Baskett, the lead actor of ''Film/SongOfTheSouth'', was given an "Honorary Oscar" at that year's Academy Award because at the time, an African American wasn't going to be nominated for a lead role.
51* Although Creator/JimmyStewart gave a solid performance in ''Film/ThePhiladelphiaStory'', it's commonly accepted that the Best Actor Oscar he won was really for his career-defining work in ''Film/MrSmithGoesToWashington'' the year before.
52* Within ''minutes'' of her 2012 Best Actress win, the general consensus was that Creator/MerylStreep won for ''Film/TheIronLady'' as compensation for... oh, everything she's ever done since ''Film/SophiesChoice'' (her last Oscar win, nearly 30 years and 17 nominations ago). It's been said that Meryl is simply beyond awards, and she's usually excluded simply to give the rest of the gender a chance. Unfortunately, the fact that she won over Viola Davis (who really should have won for ''Theatre/{{Doubt}}'' three years earlier) means that many people are crying racism. There were even accusations that Creator/OctaviaSpencer's win for Best Supporting Actress was a deliberate step by the Academy to stave off such cries, though that may be taking the conspiracy theories a bit too far.
53** It didn't help matters when people looked at the two movies in question. When you look at ''Film/TheIronLady,'' the reviews frequently said that Meryl was the best part of an otherwise lukewarm film, whereas ''Film/TheHelp'' was both a critical and commercial darling.
54* A not inconsiderable number of people thought that Creator/HeathLedger's posthumous Best Supporting Actor win for ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' was an attempt to make up for not giving him Best Actor for ''Film/BrokebackMountain'', [[PosthumousPopularityPotential when he was still alive]].
55* Creator/HalleBerry's Best Actress win for ''Film/MonstersBall'' is considered by some a consolation towards black actresses - including Creator/AngelaBassett, nominated a few years prior for ''Film/WhatsLoveGotToDoWithIt1993''.
56* Creator/BetteDavis herself said that her Oscar for ''Film/{{Dangerous|1935}}'' was a consolation prize for ''Literature/OfHumanBondage'', for which she was not nominated.
57* Creator/CharlieChaplin, the most influential actor, comedian and film maker of the first half of the 20th century has never won any Oscar for acting or directing. He did win an honorary Oscar for ''Film/TheCircus'' (1929), but this is generally considered to be one of his less iconic films. In 1972 he won an honorary Oscar for Lifetime Achievement and one for composing the score to ''Film/{{Limelight}}'' (1952), a film that was already 20 years old by that time but was never shown in the USA for those 20 years due to accusations of Chaplin being a communist. In the 1970s the film was finally shown in the USA and the jury decided it would be a fine opportunity to give the iconic star an honorary award for his entire career. ''Limelight'', though a fine film, is not generally considered to be one of Chaplin's greatest comedies.
58** Similarly, innovative and influential comedians like Creator/BusterKeaton, Creator/HaroldLloyd, [[Creator/LaurelAndHardy Stan Laurel]] and [[Creator/TheMarxBrothers Groucho Marx]] never won an Oscar for many of the classic films they performed in. All of them did receive honorary Oscars later in their career, though.
59** In this same vein, Creator/JackieChan who is considered a successor to some of those influential comedians (especially to the more physically oriented ones like Buster Keaton), earning an honorary Oscar in 2016 comes off like this to some people; though for the most part it's taken in a positive light. As his body of work in general is rather unlikely to win a regular Oscar, many fans and supporters were happy that he was actually given recognition ''at all'' for his contributions to action-comedy films, stuntwork, choreography, and action scene editing.
60* Despite [[SoOkayItsAverage middling reviews]], Jacques Audiard's ''Dheepan'' still won the Palme d'Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, largely due to snubs for earlier, much better films such as ''A Prophet'' and ''Rust and Bone''. Even moreso, the film beat out acclaimed front runners such as ''Film/SonOfSaul'', ''The Assassin'' and ''Film/{{Carol}}'' for this prize.
61* Creator/WhoopiGoldberg's win for ''Film/Ghost1990'' [[http://www.agonybooth.com/ghost-1990-part-1-4222 was argued by Agony Booth]] to have been a consolation award for her snub for ''Film/TheColorPurple1985''.
62* Creator/SpikeLee, a director who made some critically acclaimed films based on social commentary about race, such as ''Film/DoTheRightThing'' and ''Film/MalcolmX'', received an honorary Oscar in 2016 for his whole body of work, after being nominated multiple times and losing in the past. However, he didn't attend the ceremony that year, and still criticized the institution of Hollywood for its lack of diversity after accepting the award. Though unlike most examples of this trope, he would later win again in 2019 for Best Adapted Screenplay for ''Film/BlacKkKlansman''.
63* ''Film/{{The Muppets|2011}}''[='=] 2012 Oscar win for Best Song ("Man or Muppet") is seen by some as this for [[Film/TheMuppetMovie "The Rainbow Connection"]], which was nominated in the same category in 1979 but lost to the comparatively more obscure "It Goes Like It Goes" from ''Film/NormaRae''.
64* When Music/{{Cher}} won the 1987 best actress Oscar for her film ''Film/{{Moonstruck}}'' some commentators felt this award was being given to her to make up for her snub for not being nominated for ''Film/{{Mask|1985}}'' a few years earlier. While the film ''Moonstruck'' recieved critical praise that year and her performance was also praised, it was not seen as the best of all the nominees that year.
65* Creator/JamieLeeCurtis's 2023 Best Supporting Actress Oscar win for ''Film/EverythingEverywhereAllAtOnce'', the first time she'd ever been nominated for an Oscar, was criticised for being a lifetime achievement award, particularly as it snubbed both Angela Bassett and her own co-star, Stephanie Hsu (who many considered to have a more significant role in the film) and thus drew accusations of racism.
66* Creator/ChristopherPlummer was a respected Canadian actor, with notable roles in films such as ''Film/TheSoundOfMusic'' and ''Film/TwelveMonkeys'', but he had never been nominated for an Oscar until 2010, when he was 80 years old. Two years later, Plummer finally won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for ''Beginners'', which some considered a lifetime achievement award.
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69[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
70* It is quite common for the Gold Logie (an Australian television award) to be awarded to someone who is retiring or at least moving on from a long-term role. A good example is John Wood, who was nominated every year from 1997 until he finally won in 2006 (the year ''Series/BlueHeelers'' was cancelled). Similarly, Kate Ritchie won the award shortly after leaving ''Series/HomeAndAway''.
71* Grant Denyer followed this pattern in 2018, winning the Gold Logie shortly after the announcement that his version of ''Series/FamilyFeud'' was cancelled, with a lot of help from self-appointed campaign manager Tom Gleeson. The following year, Tom was nominated for his hosting of ''Hard Quiz'', and he tried the same tactic of not having a show, by [[BlatantLies claiming]] that ''Hard Quiz'' wasn't coming back even though they were still holding auditions, as was pointed out more than once in his appearances on ''Series/TheWeeklyWithCharliePickering''. His explanation was that he was intending to "bring it back" if he won, which he did.
72* While she didn't win the award, Kate Bell was nominated for the Silver Logie for Best New Female Talent in 2010 for a guest role in ''Series/HomeAndAway'', seemingly because both TV Week and its ''readers'' (she had to be shortlisted by the magazine and then nominated by a reader poll) forgot about her regular role in ''Series/BlueWaterHigh'' in 2005 and 2008. Considering the name of the award, it overlaps with AwardCategoryFraud.
73* Although the Primetime Emmys are known less for consolation awards than other organizations (as decisions were, until 2015, made by select groups of people in panels rather than by the Academy as a whole, unlike with the Oscars), Creator/PeterDinklage's second Emmy win for ''Series/GameOfThrones'' was seen by this by some. His work in Season 5, although still considered good, was far less active than it had been in previous years, and several of the other nominees in his category were nominated for much more showy work (notably Creator/JonathanBanks from ''Series/BetterCallSaul'', whom Dinklage cited in his acceptance speech). It was theorized by some that he won both for being the most popular actor associated with the show and for losing the award for his performance in Season 4's "[[Recap/GameOfThronesS4E6TheLawsOfGodsAndMen The Laws of Gods and Men]]" the year before.
74* ''Series/RupaulsDragRace'' has often been accused of this regarding the Miss Congeniality award and the ''All-Stars'' seasons:
75** On paper, Miss Congeniality is where the viewers are invited to vote online for the nicest contestant of the season, but some years the award goes to the fan-favorite who didn't make it to the finale, whether they were particularly congenial or not. Season 7 Miss Congeniality Katya even admitted that if the vote were up to the contestants themselves like in {{beauty contest}}s, Jaidynn Dior Fierce would have won. This changed in Season 10 where a snag in the online voting system led to the results getting scrapped and having the queens vote instead. Monet X. Change won and this was largely accepted by fans, so the practice was kept for future seasons.
76** As for ''All-Stars'', the first All-Stars season was seen by many as an excuse to give Chad Michaels a crown, who was bitter about losing Season 4 to Sharon Needles. Later seasons have basically become "Second Chance for the Crown," as season winners are normally not brought back, hence the controversy over whether or not Season 1 winner Bebe Zahara Benet should have been eligible for ''All-Stars 3''. Beside Chad there was also All Stars 2 winner Alaska and All Stars 5 winner Shea Coulee, who were both finalists in their respective original seasons
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79[[folder:Music]]
80* Music/{{Metallica}} won a Consolation MediaNotes/GrammyAward after losing Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance to (shockingly) Music/JethroTull the year before, with drummer Lars Ulrich facetiously thanking Jethro Tull for not putting out an album that year during his acceptance speech. The Grammys finally realized how much Metallica had contributed to heavy metal and decided to give the award for their SelfTitledAlbum, ''[[Music/MetallicaAlbum Metallica]]''. Tull's infamous win was itself a likely attempt at this that backfired on the Recording Academy.
81* Music/{{Nirvana}}'s ''only'' Grammy win could be considered this. After five unsuccessful nominations, the band finally won a Grammy award in 1996 for Best Alternative Music Performance for ''Music/MTVUnpluggedInNewYork''. Seeing as how the band had already broken up by then after Music/KurtCobain's suicide in 1994, this was obviously the last chance the Grammys had to award the band.
82* Music/SteelyDan won 3 Grammies for their 2000 album ''Music/TwoAgainstNature'', which was their first in 20 years. Their 70s work is extremely well regarded, but even the band wasn't totally satisfied with ''Nature'', and noted this trope in action. In particular they said Music/{{Eminem}} should have received the 'Album Of The Year' award instead (for ''Music/TheMarshallMathersLP'').
83* Music/PinkFloyd's sole Grammy was awarded in 1994 for Best Rock Instrumental Performance for "Marooned" from ''Music/TheDivisionBell'', despite being one of the most popular rock bands of all time.
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86[[folder:Pro Wrestling]]
87* There's a possible analogue in Professional Wrestling - some performers can work for years, often in a jobber role, but just by ill fortune, injuries or other reasons can go largely unrecognised in terms of championships, so they get a token reign later on. Examples:
88** [[Wrestling/BillDeMott Hugh Morrus]] in WCW stands out as one - he was a classic "jobber" for years, making other people look good on the way up, and eventually got a "feel good" US title reign in 2000.
89** Wrestling/MickFoley stated in his second book that he felt that his title reign in 1999 were granted more as a lifetime achievement award rather than being the "top guy" although some of the fans might have disagreed since he was the top active face at the time (Stone Cold was briefly on the shelf).
90** Another notable example of a "Thank You" rein is when long time {{Jobber}}, [[Wrestling/SteveLombardi The Brooklyn Brawler]] beat (by way of a fluke) WWE golden boy Triple H in a handicap elimination match where he teamed with Kaientai via Wrestling/ChrisJericho's interference. The Brawler is one of those guys that makes anyone look great.
91** [[Wrestling/StevieRichards Steven Richards]] and Funaki were jobbers for years before they both got their own consolation gimmicks related to the shows they were on, Stevie Night Heat and Smackdown's Number 1 Ring Announcer. They were kept with the company for many years longer than most other jobbers as they were well liked and loyal to the company, but none of the writing team knew what to do with them.
92** Also, older veterans who were still active like Wrestling/ChrisBenoit, Wrestling/{{Kane}}, Wrestling/MarkHenry, were given title reigns in their late careers for paying their dues.
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95[[folder:Science]]
96* UsefulNotes/AlbertEinstein never won any awards for Relativity theory. His Nobel Prize was for the photoelectric effect instead (though his explanation was one of the key points leading to the development of quantum mechanics).
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99[[folder:Sports]]
100* Creator/TheBBC's Sports Personality Of The Year award has run into this a couple of times. Steve Redgrave's award in 2000 was clearly for his fifth straight Olympic gold medal (he came second in the vote after his fourth) rather than the individual year's achievements, and Ryan Giggs seemed a little sheepish about his 2009 win after a year where he hadn't done much more than he had in his previous twenty year career.
101** There are similarly a few cases of people not being honoured for long career success on the assumption that they'll continue to sustain it and they can be awarded later, which seems to have stuffed Phil Taylor and Ronnie O'Sullivan. Jess Ennis-Hill, "face" of the 2012 Olympics and one of the three British gold winners on Super Saturday, lost out to Bradley Wiggins; she took silver in 2016 and picked up a lifetime achievement award in 2017 when it became clear her competing days were done.
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104[[folder:Theatre]]
105* After not being nominated for a Tony for his role as Gabe in ''Theatre/NextToNormal'', Aaron Tveit finally got a shot at Tony glory ten years later for Best Leading Actor in a Musical for ''Theatre/MoulinRouge''... by default, as the awards' eligibility period was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic and none of the other musicals up for Tonys that year (''Tina: The Music/TinaTurner Musical'' and ''Theatre/JaggedLittlePill'') had a leading actor, so Tveit was the only nominee. He needed 60% of Tony voters to cast an affirmative vote, which he duly received.
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108[[folder:Western Animation]]
109* Despite being one of the most beloved cartoon characters ever, no WesternAnimation/BugsBunny cartoon ever won the Oscar until 1958's "WesternAnimation/KnightyKnightBugs". A fine cartoon, but hardly Bugs' finest moment, especially compared to the previous year's "WesternAnimation/WhatsOperaDoc", which was submitted for nomination but ultimately rejected. (In fact, Bugs wasn't even a nominee for the previous ''sixteen'' years.)
110** ''What's Opera, Doc?'' would itself get consolation awards by being #1 the list of ''The 50 Greatest Cartoons'', and the very first animated cartoon to be inducted into the UsefulNotes/NationalFilmRegistry.
111* Legendary voice actress Creator/JuneForay won her ''first'' Emmy award for voice acting in 2012. It was for a guest spot on ''WesternAnimation/TheGarfieldShow''. According to June herself, and a few other people involved with the Emmy awards, part of the reason why she had gone unrecognized is because she's so legendary that many insiders assumed she had already won several times. There was a lot of shock when it was realized she had never even been nominated prior to her win![[note]]Though for a large part of her career, there wasn't an Emmy category for voice acting.[[/note]] Many see the Emmy win as a "career award".
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