awardee

IPA/əˌwɔːˈdiː/
IPA/əˌwɔːrˈdiː/

awardee — noun

  • awardeesingular
  • awardeesplural

1. someone chosen by an organization, committee, or official body to receive a priz

1.nounB2
Definition

someone chosen by an organization, committee, or official body to receive a prize, money, or an honor, usually after a formal evaluation or selection process

Example

Each year the foundation publishes the names of all awardees on its website in early spring.

awardees

Nala thanked her professors after being named an awardee of the full research scholarship.

named an awardee of

Common collocations
  • awardee of [prize/scholarship/grant]
  • named an awardee
  • selected as an awardee
  • former awardee
  • youngest awardee
Synonyms
  • recipient

    broader term — can refer to any kind of gift or benefit, not just formal awards

  • winner

    less formal, often implies a competition rather than a selection committee

  • laureate

    more elevated; used for Nobel, Pulitzer, and other major international prizes

  • honoree

    person being publicly recognized; focus is on the ceremony rather than the selection process

Antonyms
  • awarder

    the person, organization, or committee that gives the award

Usage Note

More common in institutional or formal writing (reports, news, official announcements) than in everyday conversation. The person or body that gives the award is the awarder.

Common Mistakes

The awardee gave the prize to the winner.
The awarder gave the prize to the awardee.
'awardee' is the person who receives, not the person who gives.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four words describe someone who receives something positive, but they differ in formality and context. Recipient is the most general — it can be used for any gift, letter, or benefit, not just awards. Winner is less formal and usually implies a contest or competition (race, game, election). Laureate is reserved for the highest international honors (Nobel, Pulitzer, UNESCO) and carries a tone of prestige. Honoree focuses on the ceremonial aspect — the person being celebrated at a dinner or event. An awardee sits between recipient (too broad) and laureate (too lofty), fitting best in institutional contexts like scholarships, grants, and research prizes. For example, you would call someone a Fulbright awardee but not a Fulbright laureate; you would say Nobel laureate, not Nobel awardee.

recipient ↗winner ↗laureatehonoree ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • scholarship awardee
  • grant awardee
  • prize awardee
  • fellowship awardee

Phrases

  • be named an awardee
  • be selected as an awardee
  • list of awardees

Prepositions

  • awardee of

Etymology

Anglo-FrenchOld FrenchEnglish

Awardee is formed from the noun award + the suffix -ee, which indicates a person who receives an action. The root award entered English from Anglo-French awarder ('to decide, to judge'), itself from Old French eswarder ('to examine, decide'), based on es- (out) + warder ('to watch, guard'). The -ee suffix comes from the French past-participle suffix -é, used in English to form agent nouns meaning 'person who is X-ed' (compare employee, trainee, interviewee). Awardee first appears in English legal and academic texts in the mid-20th century.