Awards are nice. I’ve prepared materials that led to PR clients winning significant awards. I have been a finalist for national broadcast awards. Recognition for one’s efforts can be gratifying.

But I seriously do not care anymore who wins the big awards. Oh, I have been passionate in the past! Michael Keaton should’ve won an Oscar for Birdman but an actor who played an especially sympathetic character won that year. I got in trouble in the 80’s when I joked on air that a certain rock group must’ve shared their cocaine with lots of music industry voters to win a Record of the Year Grammy (which they should not have won).

One reason I don’t care anymore is voting for most entertainment awards is not transparent. We do not know who the voters are nor do we know how many votes a winner receives. It has been suspected Harvey Weinstein (and others) have called in favors and swayed voting to nab awards for a particular film or actor. Is a record company executive likely to vote for Grammy nominees based on their performances or based on their business connections to that exec? Also, it is generally not revealed whether a winner wins with a 90% majority or a 39% plurality. Should those numbers be made public? I don’t know. And I don’t care.

Voting for many sports awards, on the other hand, IS transparent. We know how many votes Joe Burrow received for the Heisman Trophy and the identity of many Heisman voters is known. Similarly, with baseball MVP and Cy Young awards, we know who votes and by how big a margin the winners win. Sometimes I agree with the choices; sometimes I don’t. It’s interesting to see who wins and I do have my sports favorites. But I don’t care who wins those votes.

More controversial are Hall of Fame votes. Will the Pro Football Hall of Fame choose Isaac Bruce this year? They should. But because they’ve overlooked him in the past, I don’t care anymore. Peter Gammons posted an impassioned plea on The Athletic last week for baseball HOF voters to vote for Curt Schilling for his baseball accomplishments and to overlook some of Schilling’s obnoxious behaviors in his private life. Will they? I doubt it. But I don’t care. (Let’s not even get started on the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame and its shortcomings. I used to care. I do not anymore.)

Another reason I don’t care is that there are now such a huge number of awards handed out. I recall one season a few years back when I was more impressed by certain actors’ abilities to act surprised when they won award after award after award for the same acting job than I was for their actual on screen performances. (Okay, that’s an exaggeration AND a badly constructed sentence. For that I apologize.)

The Golden Globes were handed out this past Sunday. The Critics Choice Awards will be presented Sunday, January 12. Oscar nominees will be announced Monday, January 13. The SAG Awards will be handed out on Sunday, January 19. Grammy winners will be announced Sunday, January 26. The big Academy Awards show with Oscar winners will be telecast Sunday, February 9.

Awards shows can be a pleasant amusement and entertaining TV. I’ve attended a few of the country music awards shows in Nashville and Los Angeles and they (and the after parties) are fun. Awards shows are useful because they generate lots of discussion and plenty of publicity for artists and their works.

I’ll watch some of the upcoming awards shows. I’ll groan at the hosts’ attempts to be funny. I will be curious to see who gets to walk up and accept the various trophies. I’ll be happy for some of the winners. I’ll enjoy the occasional surprises. I’ll read the inevitable online rants afterward about who got snubbed. But, sorry, I really don’t care who wins.