PN
I agree with your first, but I still contend that gongs should find their way to the most deserving. Having written a number of citations, both on the inside and on the outside, I needed to trust that they would be acted upon in a fair and reasonable manner.
Most were successful but some were not and must have presented a very difficult challenge to assess the justification for an award.
But weighting the awards based on keeping the balance of numbers in proportion across many units and organisations remains controversial to me.
IG.