Meaning of award In English

• 0 to give money or a prize following an official decision:

  • Carlos was awarded first prize in the essay competition.

  • The jury awarded libel damages of £100,000.

  • [ + two objects ] The university has awarded her a $500 travel grant.

• 1 a prize or an amount of money that is given to someone following an official decision:

  • They have authorized awards of £900 to each of the victims.

  • the Academy Award for Best Director

• 2 to give something valuable, such as money or a prize following an official decision:

  • Her poodle was awarded first prize in the dog show.

  • Their company was awarded a contract worth $40 million by the federal government.

• 3 a prize or a sum of money that a person or organization is given for an achievement:

  • A new digital innovation award is aimed at media that uses the latest technology to make an improvement in delivery of news services.

  • an award for sth A recently launched advertising agency got an award for best marketing campaign of 2009.

  • Four finalists shared the top cash award of $160,000.

  • accept/receive/win an award The airline received an environmental award for work relating to carbon-emissions reduction.

  • give/make/present an award We have no hesitation in giving an award to this interesting example of large-scale urban regeneration.

• 4 a sum of money that a court of law decides is owed by a company, organization, or person to someone they have treated unfairly, injured in an accident, etc.:

  • Justice Andrew Reid confirmed that the award would total $15.5m.

  • an award of sth The jury made an award of £380,000 in damages.

  • make/uphold/grant an award An award for continuing cost of care for survivors of the crash was upheld by the Court of Appeal.

  • compensation/compensatory/damage(s) award The rail company challenged the compensation payout, claiming that the damages award was excessive.

• 5 an amount of money paid by a company to an employee as an increase in income or as a special payment for success:

  • an award for sth Awards for all 600 executives have been ruled out as the group struggles to recover from a catastrophic 12-month period.

  • As head of the bank's US credit business, she got an award of £2.18m.

• 6 a sum of money, work, etc. that is officially given to a company or organization:

  • Including the Port Authority's $3 million award, the company got a total of $3.93 million in grants.

• 7 →  award wage

• 8 to officially give work, a sum of money, etc. to a company or organization:

  • Firms making big campaign contributions are often awarded lucrative government grants.

  • award a grant/contract (to sb) The Pentagon has awarded a $520 million contract to the construction company.

  • award sb sth The company awarded them the concrete subcontract on the five-story parking structure.

• 9 if a court awards a sum of money to someone who has been unfairly treated, injured in an accident at work, etc., it orders the person, company, or organization that is responsible to pay it:

  • be awarded $1 million/£250,000, etc. She was awarded £600,000 in damages as part of a libel action.

  • award sth to sb/award sb sth The jury will award $1.78 million in compensation and more than $99 million in punitive damages to victims.

  • award sth in damages/compensation/costs

• 10 to give an employee an increase in income or a special payment as a reward for success:

  • award sth to sb/award sb sth The Association has just announced that it will be awarding more than $14 million in annual pay rises to staff.

  • be awarded sth Many of the investment bank's employees have been awarded much smaller performance bonuses than they were led to expect.

• 11 to give a prize or a sum of money to a person, company, or organization who has been very successful:

  • be awarded sth The restaurant was one of only three to be awarded four Michelin stars this year.

  • Nearly $72,000 in scholarships were awarded by about 30 companies.