Everyone is a winner. This is often the concept that is emphasized when participation awards are handed out to competitors. Participation awards are given to participants of an event or competition for just showing up. Everyone who simply takes part in the activities involved in a competition receives one before heading home. These awards are often given to raise the self-esteem of children and to ensure that no one feels inferior. Although well-intended, there are important ramifications that need to be considered when evaluating the value of participation awards.

Unprepared for Failure
An inherent trait of participation awards is that it undermines the importance of failure for students. Although failure is a concept that is not pleasing to most people, it is necessary for people to have failed in order to grow and improve in the future. Failure provides critical insight to one's weaknesses and allows for people to identify ways to improve or to never make similar mistakes again.

The problem with participation awards is that gives students an avenue to which they can hide from their failures or not acknowledge their shortcomings. This is especially problematic when parents often congratulate their children on receiving a participation award to bolster their confidence. However, instead of shielding students from failure, society and students should be embracing failure. Students are bound to face failure in the future such as in college or in the competitive workplace. Not being prepared for failure can result in heightened stress and anxiety for students.

Worse Environment for Participants
Originally, only students who won at competitions would receive awards. With the rise of participation awards, all students who attend an event or competition would leave with a ribbon, medal, or trophy in their hands. This undermines the entire purpose of award ceremonies which primarily aims to recognize a few students who demonstrated exceptional skills and put on a phenomenal performance at a particular event. Each award becomes less valuable when everyone who participates is a winner; participants become less motivated to compete, especially those who bring their best performance in a competitive environment.

Participation awards could also create a more toxic environment for participants when those who win awards try to undermine or insult participants who solely receive participation awards. This could be because of a variety of reasons such as a feeling of not being properly recognized for the effort and hard work certain students have put in, jealousy, or even a desire to remind competitors who the true winners at an event is.

Value of Participation Awards
In contrast to much criticism against participation awards, there are also advocates of participation awards. Advocates emphasize the necessity for children to build up confidence as children frequently doubt and question themselves. In order to have children take risks and to be ambitious in the future, it is crucial to instill pride into the younger generation. Similarly, handing out participation awards means more students are willing to persist and attend future competitions. If students receive no tangible compensation for their hard work and effort into an activity, it is incredibly likely that students will become depressed with a feeling of hopelessness. This becomes problematic when students feel no desire to attend future competitions and events (which can boost their motivation as well as their competitive nature) considering that they will not have anything to show for the amount of effort they place in a certain activity.

Students' Perspectives
Although it can seem heartbreaking to see a contestant walk away without any award, walking away empty-handed may be better for the contestant in the long run. The individual will most likely never be complacent with oneself and thus be motivated to improve on another competition. Moreover, as participation awards are not formally recognized by the public, students should continue to pursue their goals so that they are recognized for their hard work, not for having fun or having the courage to show up.