On Friday May 17 the University of Washington Tacoma held their 16th annual OSCARs award ceremony at the University YMCA at 7 p.m. and the room was filled with tables, great food and a wonderful stage. The purpose of the OSCARs is to celebrate the hard work of the students, staff and faculty that make up the University of Washington Tacoma campus. There are some categories where students are able to vote for who they think deserves the award, and there are others where the staff and faculty vote for who they think deserves the award. Nominations were accepted until April 12 at 12 p.m. and the students could vote between April 15 and April 30.

Throughout the ceremony there were cheers, laughter, hugs and pictures. But what most didn't notice were the soft murmurs humming between guests at various tables.

A few questions as the evening went on that arised from table to table were as followed;

"How many times have they gone up there?"

"Are there any new names on there? They all look the same."

"Is it just the same people over and over again?"

"Hasn't that person already won, like, three awards already?"

After attending and hearing the celebration, murmurs and noticing the names appearing on the screen becoming more and more familiar due to the repetition of the names presented, a pique of curiosity inspired some digging.

The following list were the categories provided on the OSCARs program.

OSCARs Program

A total of 29 categories had awards, recognition or certificates that were given to students only. Within some of these categories, but not all, were multiple sections of the award such as the Husky Volunteers Awards which had the Silver, Purple and Gold awards depending on the number of service hours. Within some of these categories multiple people received awards, certificates or recognition such as the ASUWT President's Award which was given to two different individuals.

In the OSCARs 29 categories there were 21 awards, one certificate and seven recognitions. Within the 29 categories there were 35 sections.

Of the 21 awards, they were given away to four groups and 76 individuals. In the certificate category, it was given to seven individuals and of the seven recognition categories 49 individuals and the graduating class of 2019 were recognized.

In total four groups received awards and 132 individuals received awards, certificates and recognition.

Of the 132 individuals that received awards, certificates and recognition 62 individuals received awards. seven received certificates, and 46 individuals received recognition.

However, the results can be broken down even further.

One individual received four awards and one recognition.

Two individuals received three awards each.

Three individuals received two awards and one recognition each.

Five individuals received two awards each.

Six individuals received one award and one recognition each.

Five people received one award and one certificate each.

One person received one award, one certificate and two recognitions.

One person received one award, one certificate and one recognition.

One person received one award and two recognitions.

Two people received two recognitions.

With that broken down, that means that out of the 132 individuals who received awards, recognition and certificates that only 38 individuals received just one award, nobody received just one certificate, and only 31 people received just one recognition.

To see the difference, 69 out of 132 students received one award or recognition and 27 out of 132 students received more than one award, recognition, certificate or some combination. Or about 52 percent of the individuals received one award or recognition and about 20 percent received more than one award, recognition, certificate or some combination.

While the decisions are final and carefully made, the ceremony was beautiful and overall a fun celebration of student and staff success. However, the repetitiveness of the nominees and individuals that had received a combination of multiple awards, recognitions and certificates had some audience members confused, baffled and irritated leaving them with questions rather than a sense of celebratory satisfaction.