Building on this idea, Adam. Perhaps preplanning the awards is generally not the way to go. A few preplanned awards is fine, such as "most helpful" etc.
What if Member A notices that Member B is consistant or knowledgable about something. Member A can then post a nomination for member B regarding this specific trait. Instead of deciding beforehand which awards may be given out, the members decide what awards exist by nominations.
As a result, someone could randomly post in a forum:
"I nominate Person X for the "Most smilies in one post" award". If others agree, this nominee would receive recognition for this "award" (

).
Simple system, no complications, people vote for whoever they want on whatever they want. If they get support from other members, the nominee wins the award? Simple enough? It would keep the award system from getting too competitive, and it adds a lighter, more fun atmosphere to the awards system in my opinion.

Perhaps, if we do something like this, we should set up a "nominations" forum so members actually know where to go to vote / nominate people.