Our school has an evening academic awards ceremony about a month before graduation. The format has changed since my kids have been in this suburban public school/400ish grads per year. Those being recognized receive invitations (so the other half of the class doesn’t have to sit through it). All certificates are put in an envelope with the student’s name on it. A program lists all the names and the awards each kid got. A few departmental or special awards, and memorial scholarships (not in program) are announced. Only those getting these “surprise” awards go up to the stage. They used to read each kid’s name as he/she walked across the stage to receive the envelope, but that took too long. Now they pick up envelopes before the ceremony. It has always been up to the audience to read the program to see what each kid got. They used to list "college scholarship " but many couldn’t distinguish between need-based and merit aid so they stopped listing that. Groups of students are recognized together and asked to stand (“We had 40 AP scholars this year. AP scholars please stand…” clapclapclap) Names are read for NM, and Governor’s/Presidential scholars. The program explains the criteria for each award. This year about 50%of the class was recognized. Then there is a musical performance by a student/students. All pretty quick. Many sports teams or other groups like orchestra or Thespians have an end of year banquet or ceremony, too. Only top ten students are recognized at graduation, and there is another senior ceremony at the school the day before graduation with a few more awards and speeches/musical performances which are by audition. The principal will rattle off the bragging points of the class as a whole and read a list of colleges kids will attend (but not who is going to which college). Only thing that really bugs me is they add up all the scholarships “offered” to the class, not just the ones the students are actually taking. The principal brags about that, but it only represents how many applications were submitted. And there is the problem of need based vs.merit aid, again. I don’t really care that my kids weren’t recognized for merit scholarships. The $ is its own reward 