Competitive creativity is a problematic concept, but the Keir Choreographic Award shows why they’re useful.

On your marks. Get set. Create!

From the Oscars to the Grammys, the Helpmanns to the Green Rooms, on global, national and local levels, arts prizes can be found just about everywhere. More often than not, they’re considered to be the highest endorsement of quality, an arbitrary status symbol with the power to launch (or stifle) an artist’s career.

They may be here to stay, but there are many reasons why I have great difficulty with the concept of competitive creation. What empirical measure can be applied fairly in the assessment of something that is, in its very essence, a conduit to the ineffable? How do you decide which modes of expression are better than others? How do you judge which ideas or inspirations have the most worth and which are worthless?

Martin Hansen If It’s All In My Veins

Of course, whenever we experience a performance or work of art, we instinctively apply a judgement on whether we liked it or not, or if it moved us in a positive or negative (or perhaps worst...