It is awards season and the market continues to raise the red flag over some awards which are being given to some people in Zimbabwe.
In this regard, Tigzozo Media founder Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Kudzai Tinago, raised the matter again this year when he took to LinkedIn at the end of November to express his concerns over the way some awards are being run. In his post, Tinago questioned the idea of award recipients having to pay in order to win the awards.
“It’s that time of the year where people are graduating, receiving business awards, and you are seated there thinking, “Am I working hard enough?” Then, boom, an email comes to you and says congratulations you have been nominated to receive the….award of the year. Excited you opens and accepts the call, then the next thing you hear is, for the award ceremony event, you need to pay $300 for your dinner or $5 000 for your corporate table. My friend, at this stage, you are now a customer not an award recipient,” Tinago posted.
Tinago described the process as a rip off given that it ran at a tangent with the way awards are run globally.
“Such award scams have been in existence for a long time and are still on the rise in recent times. Let us be realistic that we should not be asked to foot the bill if we are legitimately getting an award for some recognition. Do not be confused with sponsorships, that is sponsoring an event. If one is actively involved in the local community and willing to pay to sponsor an event and have the company’s name in light that is legitimate. These vanity awards are offered by unknown entities and have no connection with one’s community or business,” he said.
The communications and story teller advised that any award where the winner is asked to pay should be ignored.
“I recently got four emails, and it’s a big fat no for me. If I have to pay, I’m buying not earning. Thank you. If you are presented with an email offering you an award, it goes without saying that you should ignore it. Remember: Real awards don’t cost money,” Tinago wrote.
Tinago’s post generated responses with many people agreeing with him.
Leadership consultant, Christopher Sithole concurred with him and advised other professionals on how to handle award organisations offering awards in exchange for money.
“You’re so right Kudzai Tinago. Two things stand out for me as the deciding factors. That is the awardee or recipient’s credibility and the awarding institution’s credibility. Before you accept the award, do some self-introspection. Do you honestly believe that you did so exceptionally well that you deserve that lofty recognition? If you hesitate for a bit then don’t ruin your reputation over the award.
Then, check on the track record of the awarding institution or those behind it. Have they achieved anything worth associating with or they want to make their name through you?” Sithole responded.
Sithole’s advice tallied with businesswoman, Dr Divine Ndhlukula’s counsel on the same matter. In December last year, Dr Ndhlukula posted on her LinkedIn page that in November the previous year she received an email from the Ireland-based Business Excellence Institute (BEX) checking if she was agreeable to being nominated for induction into the Excellence Hall of Fame.
“I did my background checks to see if this was a credible organisation. I accepted to be nominated and that was duly done by a Fellow of BEX, Dianne Tyers, Faculty of Open Learning and Career Development Dean at Dalhousie University of Canada,” she posted.
It turned out that her nomination was not from the blue. It was based on her track record as a businesswoman.
“Interestingly, in 2017 she (Tyers) had done a study on “Understanding the cross-cultural and cross-linguistics experiences of women entrepreneurs” and had come across my name then,” the businesswoman said.
Cutting a long story short, Dr Ndhlukula was inducted together with other global business greats like Virgin Unite President and CEO, Jean Oelwaneng.
Journalist and communication expert, Rachel Kwainona blamed local professionals’ gullibility to the rogue award givers’overtures to their hunger for awards.
“Well said Kudzai and as Zimbabweans we are obsessed with awards. It’s like a disease at this point! The outrageous amounts one has to pay for an award I laugh! They can keep their award,” she weighed in.
Health Times Editor, Michael Gwarisa concurred with Tinago.
“The moment you are required to pay in order to be honoured then it ceases to be an award. Period.” He said.
Award-winning businessman and author, Jonathan Ralph Kadurira also agreed with Tinago that award recipients should not pay for awards.
“By God’s grace I have received some awards for my work… I never paid anything for them. And now each time I get an email for these awards (organisers) which ask me to pay some fee it’s an automatic No because I am like, I once got all these without paying, so why pay for this one. And also there are other awards by these “shady” organisations that I have also declined because you will notice that the award may even tarnish your brand than it adds value to it,” he said.
Mike Panashe Mberi, a Pan-Africanist, contended that charging for participating in some awards is justified to meet the costs of running them.
“I think it’s also worth acknowledging that not all awards requiring payment are scams. For example, events like the Met Gala, Grammy Awards, and BET Awards often involve costs for attendance or participation. These fees aren’t about ‘buying’ the recognition but covering substantial costs like venue hire, production, catering, and other logistics to create a high-calibre event. In these cases, the funds directly contribute to maintaining the quality and prestige of the awards.
Bright Ewuru wrote an interesting piece on this topic and highlighted that legitimate programmes often charge entry fees to fund proper administration, marketing, credible judging panels, and meaningful prizes. Of course, the key is transparency. Participants should know where their money is going and feel like they’re getting value, whether they win or not,” Mberi opined.
Media executive, Kim Sibanda agreed with Mberi and hoped that someday, local awards will be funded mostly by sponsors as was the case before so that winners would not feel like they are buying awards.