Good timing for this thread. I attended my S’s 8th grade awards assembly last night. He got an academic achievement award for having a 3.5 GPA (as did many other students).
The whole event was done in an hour but they could definitely trim it further. Rather than just select the top student in each academic area they give out three consolation prizes, too. So four awards for math (both Blue and Silver teams), four for honors math (Blue and Silver), four for band, four for orchestra, …
The students definitely enjoyed the photoshot movie set to music afterward to remember their time at the Middle School.