–by Ashley Zhou

There are some extremely famous celebrities and athletes who have gained money, fame, and public recognition. They have been acknowledged as successful in almost every way–except they haven’t obtained that one important award in their fields. For whatever reason, they have been unintentionally locked out of winning a coveted prize–although they’ve been nominated numerous times.

The first person who pops up in my head is Leonardo DiCaprio. The highest honor of being an actor is to receive the Oscar or Academy Award. Leonardo DiCaprio has been nominated by the Academy for Best Performance of an Actor in a Leading Role three times and as the Best Actor in a Supporting Role one time, but he has never won. The movies that he was nominated for were What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? (1993), The Aviator (2004), Blood Diamond (2006), and The Wolf of Wall Street (2013). DiCaprio has established himself with great performances in those movies. However, the Academy obviously didn’t appreciate his talents as much as we, the audience, did. Of course, he has been teased a lot about his “so close” trophy by caring netizens (people who populate the internet), too. DiCaprio’s new movie The Revenant is being released nationwide currently with high expectations. It is also eligible for an award in the 88th Academy Awards, so we are all hoping that he can bring Oscar home this time.

For the eleventh year in a row, Japanese author Haruki Murakami was favored to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, and for the eleventh year in a row, he didn’t win.
His books and stories are bestsellers not only in Japan but also worldwide, winning numerous awards including the World Fantasy Award (2006) and the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award (2006). However, he is still missing the Noble Prize for Literature. When asked about the possibility of being awarded the Nobel Prize, Murakami responded with a laugh, saying “No, I don’t want prizes. That means you’re finished.” It is true that great writers care much more about their readers’ responses than the awards.

As a strong national team throughout history, the Netherlands National Football Team never let its fans down in the World Cup–expect for every time they were in the final match. They hold the record for playing the most World Cup finals without ever winning the tournament.
In the 1974 World Cup, the Dutch played against West Germany. With only one minute into the game, the Dutch took the lead with a penalty kick by Johan Neeskens before any German player had even touched the ball. However, Germany struggled to recover until they scored with their own penalty kick in the 25th minute. West Germany pushed for a win–Gerd Muller scored in the 48th minute. Although both sides had few chances of sending the ball to the gate, West Germany was eventually crowned the World Cup champion. This was the first time that the Dutch missed the opportunity. Then, in 1978’s World Cup, after losing the final game four years ago, the Dutch made it again. The host Argentina turned the table of a 1-1 game by scoring two goals in stoppage time. But this match was a big controversy, as the Dutch accused the Argentines of using stalling tactics to delay the match that allowed tension to build in front of a hostile Buenos Aires crowd.
In the 2010 World Cup final, similarly, Spain defeated Netherlands 1-0 with a goal from Andrés Iniesta four minutes from the end of extra time. At the end of the game, as the sound of revelry hailed from the winning team, the orange soldiers left again with their lonely shadows fading out of the scene.

–Edited by Gaven Li