Over the last couple of weeks, the Nobels have been announced in various disciplines.

Most readers will know this big-brand award got its name from Alfred Nobel, inventor of dynamite, who willed most of his wealth to institute the Nobel Prizes. A premature obituary condemned him for profiting from the sales of arms and that motivated Nobel’s decision. (Incidentally, he owned weapons maker Bofors for two years.)

The Nobel Prize amount for 2016 was set at Swedish kronor 8 million for a full Nobel Prize.

Nobel medals are highly valued as collectors’ items and fetch large sums, sometimes running into millions. The medal of James Watson, who along with Francis Crick was given the Nobel for discovering the double helix structure of the DNA, auctioned his medal which was bought by Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov for over $4 million two years ago. Crick’s medal fetched $2.27 million the previous year.

Usmanov purchased Watson’s medal at auction, so that he could then return it to the scientist. He did not think it was right that a man who had contributed to science was forced to sell his medal on financial grounds, so paid the money to then return the medal to its rightful owner.

While the story of how the Oscar award got its name is unclear – the librarian at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said the statuette resembled her Uncle Oscar; columnist Sidney Skolsky claimed credit – do you know how the other showbiz awards got their name? Grammy is easy, it takes its name from the gramophone of yore. The Emmy got its name from the image orthicon tube used in TV cameras between the Forties and the Sixties. Harry Lubcke, TV engineer and third president of the TV Academy in the US suggested Immy after Ike, founder Syd Cassidy’s suggestion, was rejected.

Ike was the nickname for the TV iconoscope tube, the first video camera to be used in early TV cameras. It was also World War II hero and future president Dwight Eisenhower’s nickname. Immy was later changed to Emmy to suit the feminine statuette. The theatre world’s Tony awards, instituted in 1947, got their name from Antoinette Perry, an actress, director, producer, and a wartime leader of the American Theatre Wing who had recently passed away.

The Pulitzer Prize gets its name from Hungarian-born American publisher Joseph Pulitzer. In 20 of 21 categories, winners receive a $20,000 cash award and a certificate. A gold medal is given to the winner in the Public Service category. Another well-known prize that involves writing is The Man Booker prize. It was originally known as the Booker prize, for the food company Booker, McConnell which started sponsoring it in 1968. In 2002, the title sponsor became the investment company Man Group. The prize money is £50,000.

Did you know the story behind how the Cannes Lions got their name? This global advertising awards event is known as the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity but when it launched in 1954, it was known as the International Advertising Film Festival. It was first held in Venice and later in Cannes and alternated between the two cities for many years. The award was modelled after the winged lion statue at Piazza San Marco in Venice. In 1984, transport problems resulted in the festival leaving Venice and moving to Cannes permanently. This angered the Italian authorities who said the award could no longer look like their lion, and it had to be redesigned.

Compiled by Sravanthi Challapalli

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