History Main / ConsolationAward

* 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/MonstersInc1'') because it was one of the weakest years for that category and Newman had already lost many times.

** 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.
** 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''.

* 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.
** 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.
** 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.

** And incidentally, one film that wasn't even nominated for Best Picture in 1952? ''Film/SinginInTheRain!''

** 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.
* 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.
** 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''.
** 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}}''.
* 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!
** For that matter, he didn't win for the likes of ''Film/{{Hud}}'', ''Film/CoolHandLuke'' and ''Film/TheVerdict''.
** 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.
* 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}}''...

* 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.

* 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.

** 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.

** 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.
** 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.

* 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''.

** 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.

* 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.)
** ''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.

* Some critics saw ''Film/DancerInTheDark'''s MediaNotes/PalmeDOr win as consolation for director Creator/LarsVonTrier's previous film (And first installment in his Golden Heart trilogy, in which 'Dark was the final installment) ''Film/BreakingTheWaves''.

* 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.

[[folder:Film -- Animation]]

[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]

* 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}}'' four 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.

* 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 winning best actress 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.

* Music/{{Metallica}} won a Consolation UsefulNotes/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.

* 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/TheColorPurple''.

** 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 Renee the Oscar already" (NOTE: She had been nominated for Best Actress in 2001 as well, for ''Literature/BridgetJones's Diary''.

* Creator/BetteDavis herself said that her Oscar for ''Film/{{Dangerous}}'' was a consolation prize for ''Literature/OfHumanBondage'', for which she was not nominated.

* Possibly the most famous (or infamous) of these is that Creator/AlfredHitchcock never won an Oscar as a director (though ''Film/{{Rebecca}}'' 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}}''...

* 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. 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''.

* 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. 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 ''Film/{{Venus}}'', only to lose to Creator/ForestWhitaker for ''Film/TheLastKingOfScotland''.

* 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/WhatsLoveGotToDoWithIt''.

* When Music/{{Cher}} won the 1987 best actress Oscar for film ''Film/{{Moonstruck}}'' some commentators felt this award was being given to her to make up for her snub for not winning best actress 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.

* 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 four nominees to beat him. Softening the blow was the fact that the movie was a huge box office hit, the second-biggest of its year in fact.