Why Are Romanian Businesses So Obsessed With Meaningless Awards?
Walk through the reception area of almost any mid-sized Romanian company and you will find them. Framed certificates, glass trophies, and printed logos of award programmes nobody outside the industry has heard of. Plaques celebrating excellence in categories so broad they could accommodate any entrant willing to pay the submission fee.
Nobody asks who decided. Nobody checks the judging criteria. The award goes on the website, the press release goes out, the business files it under proof of quality and moves on.
It is one of the most revealing habits in Romanian corporate culture — and one of the least examined.
Where The Obsession Comes From
The obsession with awards is not uniquely Romanian, but it runs particularly deep here for reasons that are worth understanding rather than simply mocking.
Romania's business community is young by Western European standards. The first generation of serious private enterprise emerged from the early 1990s into a market where credibility was scarce, institutional trust was low, and the signals that communicated legitimacy to customers, partners, and investors had to be assembled from scratch.
Awards filled that gap. A trophy from a recognised body — or a body that looked recognised — was shorthand for trustworthiness in a market that hadn't yet developed more sophisticated ways of evaluating it. The habit formed early and calcified into a convention.
What was once a reasonable proxy for credibility has become, in many cases, a substitute for it.
The Award Economy
The mechanics are worth understanding. A significant proportion of business awards operate as commercial enterprises. Entry fees fund the programme. Categories multiply to maximise participation. Judging criteria are broad enough to accommodate a flattering interpretation of almost any submission. Winners are announced at ticketed dinners where the tables are sold to the same companies being recognised.
None of this is hidden. It is simply not discussed—because too many people in the room have a trophy on their workdesk and a professional interest in its perceived value.
Lighthouse PR does not enter award programmes of this kind and does not encourage clients to do so. The reason is straightforward: a communication strategy built on credentials that informed audiences do not respect is not a strategy. It is a decoration with a press release attached.
What Actually Builds Credibility
The audiences that matter – serious investors, multinational partners, top-tier talent, and business media – do not make decisions based on award logos. They make decisions based on reputation, track record, the quality of the work, and the clarity of the thinking behind it.
These things are built slowly, through consistency, genuine expertise, and the willingness to be evaluated by outcomes rather than by entry submissions. They cannot be purchased at a gala dinner, and they do not fit neatly into a reception display case.
The Romanian businesses earning genuine respect in European markets are not the ones with the most awards. They are the ones who stopped chasing validation and started building something worth validating.
The Question Worth Asking
Before the next award entry is submitted, one question is worth sitting with honestly: if this trophy disappeared tomorrow, would anyone who matters notice?
If the answer is no, the budget spent on the submission fee, table at the dinner, and press release announcing the win would be better invested almost anywhere else.
Credibility is not something that gets handed to you in a glass case. It is something you earn in front of audiences that will never be impressed by the trophy anyway.
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About the Author
Steve Gardiner (exec MBA) is a senior marketing and commercial leader at Lighthouse PR, bringing global experience from Accenture, Electronic Arts, Virgin Media, Telekom, and Etisalat. Latterly, as VP Business at Etisalat, he was responsible for $1.8B in revenue.
Today, Steve applies his strategic, marketing, and growth expertise to support Lighthouse PR clients as part of the agency’s service offering.
About Lighthouse PR
Lighthouse PR is a leading PR agency in Romania that works with a select number of organisations across Central and Southeastern Europe, delivering media relations, reputation management, crisis communications, social media and an extensive range of marketing services — always led by senior practitioners.
We hold exclusive membership for Romania and the Republic of Moldova in both the Eurocom worldwide PR network and the CCNE, Europe's leading crisis communications network.
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