Three Tales About Three Prizes

In a season where the prized subject for discussion, debate and timepass is awards — and declining them — may we pass our world-famous, prize-winning comments on three separate award incidents. The first shows how an award can come in good monetary stead, even after the awardee has passed on to the Great Podium in the Sky. The Nobel Prize medal of 1998 chemistry laureate Walter Kohn who passed away in 2016 is up for auction today.

The minimum bid for the lot that also includes three books Kohn possessed is $275,000 (`2.06 crore). Despite the selling of awards being seen as bad form, especially by folks who have never won one, Kohn’s family should thank both the great man and the Nobel Committee. The other prize news is a warning for all of us to check our spam mail. For, Laura Spears would have missed out on her $3 million (`22.42 crore) lottery jackpot if she hadn’t trawled her spam for another mail. Talk about claiming a prize that was almost rejected. But perhaps the ultimate prize one can have is the one that’s not really earned.

The two French badminton players who reached the Syed Modi International 2022 final split the award — and prize money — without playing the game. Reason? One of the players tested Covid-positive, with the other a ‘close contact’. Getting a prize, as many cynics have started to suspect, can indeed be a walkover.