In 2015’s media driven society, awards and award shows are as popular as ever. Most people go decades without winning one of the highly coveted awards such as an EMMY or an Oscar. They are complete popularity contests, and they should be. The people being featured in these award shows are entertainers, and whichever person is the most successful is the obvious choice for the award.

However, certain awards should not be entirely based off of popularity, but rather based on the person’s overall merit or right to win the award. Over the last couple of decades, there has been a noted focus on political correctness, in which people often do the thing that may be the most popular or agreeable over what may be the right decision.

This year, there were several people who inspired others through their commitment and courage shown in relation to the sports community, the most obvious Caitlyn Jenner, Noah Galloway, and Lauren Hill. Caitlyn Jenner came out as transgender in 2015, something which came as quite a shock to the world. Although this was courageous, is revealing to the world that you are mentally a different sex really that courageous in 2015, at least in reference to the sports world? People are becoming more and more accepting of this, and it is slowly becoming a social norm. Frank Deford, who co-wrote Portrait in Motion; the Arthur Ashe Diary  with Arthur Ashe himself stated;”Caitlyn Jenner is being forthright and honest, but this is something that she wanted, and she has a good fallback position — a reality show, fame and lots of money. There’s not a great deal of risk involved in the same way that someone who worked down at the body shop would experience. Bruce Jenner had a good idea that he wasn’t going to lose by doing this; his family is in support of him” (LA Times).  Society’s push for complete political correctness has actually made being transgender seem weirder in the average person’s eyes; if it is something that many people are now okay with, why is it being treated as a world event?

The other two notable potential candidates (although not official) , were Noah Galloway and Lauren Hill . Noah Galloway is a military veteran, who lost both an arm and a leg in a roadside explosion. Despite his disabilities, he still continues to run marathons, and he competes in cross fit events. Lauren Hill was a nineteen year old college basketball player, who played at Mount Saint Joseph University in Cincinnati. She battled an inoperable brain tumor so that she could achieve her dream of playing college basketball. While Caitlyn Jenner’s coming out to the world was most definitely courageous, it was not as courageous as some of the other potential candidates for the award.

It is not a question of whether Caitlyn Jenner was courageous in coming out: she obviously was. However, it is very debatable if she was the most courageous person in the world last year (although it is technically a sports award, it is not entirely correlated with athletes). However, in order to fully benefit the world as a famous transgender figurehead, you have to contribute something other than your story. While Caitlyn Jenner might have inspired some transgender people to come out, she has done little to benefit the transgender group past that. Lauren Hill and Noah Galloway are more relevant to the sports world now than Caitlyn Jenner has been for the last twenty years, and will continue to inspire with their acts of courage.