Charity awards - a waste of time and money?

I am always slightly disturbed when each year I see details of charity awards. Charities are asked to nominate the 'Best Fund Raiser' 'Best Volunteer', 'Chief Executive' or 'Best Campaign', and then they are expected to dress up and to pay £100 or more per person to go to an awards ceremony and see the winners get their awards. Just like the Oscars. But is this really what donors expect charities to be spending their time and money on? Just filling in the entry forms takes time, and then there are trips to London's West End, hiring Dinner suits etc etc. The organisers no doubt argue that it is important to reward excellence, but I would argue that surely the best reward for excellence in a charity, is achieving the objectives of the charity. Not being patted on the back and spending several hundred pound being told you are good.



But most important, it's not what donors expect charities to be doing. Or am I wrong? Feedback from donors to the World Land Trust would be most interesting and welcome.