The first impression after reading the essay is that the author is very biased. His choice of words such as" always, nearly, clearly undeserving winner" have shown that he has over-generalized the issue. Of course, maybe he is a critic who is writing the essay to persuade the readers that awards are unfair. However, he provides only one-sided view which means that he only show his feelings instead of evaluating the issue.
In my opinion, his arguments are rather weak because he did not provide enough information on the other side of the argument. It is inevitable that some awards are unfair and involve commission. But for other awards like the Nobel prize for scientists, the judging criteria is clear and fair. Furthermore, many movie and music awards have incorporated the part which the general audience can vote for the winner. This democratic practice allows more fairness in the judgement. Indeed,some may argue that popular is not equivalent to excellence. However, the intention of some movie prize is to give the public a guideline of choosing movies as well as rewarding the actors for their work. In the case of movies, it is clear that the actors need to be good in order for the public to support him or her. Therefore, there is some link between popular and excellence although this may only be prominent in the performing arts fields.
In addition, the author did not provide enough solid evidences to support his thoughts. For example, " If you listen to movie buffs, they will tell you... " is not strong enough. His own memory of his primary school teacher is also rather personal and subjective.
