There is a race to the bottom happening with awards: If a community gives more awards at their conferences, their people look more impressive to grant givers an

There is a race to the bottom happening with awards: If a community gives more awards at their conferences, their people look more impressive to grant givers and promotion comitties. Then the community grows and can hold more and bigger conferences with more prices. Prices are alright for identifying interesting talks at a conference, but you shouldn't compare them between fields.