What Are Reddit Awards and Do They Help Distribution?
Reddit awards are virtual tokens that users purchase and give to posts or comments they find valuable, entertaining, or noteworthy. Awards serve as a form of community recognition - they visually highlight content with badges and colored backgrounds, give the recipient Reddit Premium benefits or Gold coins depending on the award tier, and signal to other users that a piece of content is worth reading. According to Reddit's own data, millions of awards are given daily across the platform, and awarded posts receive significantly more engagement than non-awarded posts in the same subreddits.
How Does Reddit's Award System Work?
Reddit has evolved its award system several times. The current system centers around Reddit Gold as the platform's virtual currency:
Giving awards. Users purchase Reddit Gold (using real money or earned through Reddit Premium subscriptions) and use it to give awards to posts and comments. Different award tiers cost different amounts of Gold, with basic awards starting at a few Gold coins and premium awards costing significantly more.
Receiving awards. When your post or comment receives an award, you get a visible badge on that content, and depending on the award tier, you may receive Reddit Premium benefits (ad-free browsing, access to r/lounge) or Gold coins you can use to award others.
Award visibility. Awarded content displays badges next to the title. Multiple awards stack, creating increasingly prominent visual indicators. A post with 5 Gold awards and a Platinum is visually distinct from surrounding posts, which naturally draws more attention and clicks.
Do Awards Actually Affect the Reddit Algorithm?
The Reddit algorithm uses upvotes, comments, and time-based decay as its primary ranking signals. Awards are not a direct algorithmic input - meaning giving a post 10 awards does not directly increase its rank in a subreddit feed the way 10 additional upvotes would.
However, awards create a powerful indirect effect on distribution:
Visual attention. Award badges make posts visually prominent in feeds. Users scrolling through a subreddit are more likely to stop and read a post with Gold and Platinum badges than an identical post without them. This increased attention generates more clicks, upvotes, and comments - all of which are direct algorithmic signals.
Social proof. Awards function as endorsements. When users see that multiple people spent real money to highlight a post, they infer the content must be valuable. This social proof lowers the bar for engagement - users are more likely to upvote and comment on content that others have already validated.
Extended visibility window. Posts with awards tend to accumulate engagement for longer periods than non-awarded posts. The visual prominence keeps them generating clicks and upvotes even as they age, which counteracts the algorithm's time-based decay factor.
Research from Reddit's transparency reports and community analysis suggests that posts with at least one Gold award receive 20 to 40% more total engagement than similar posts without awards, though the causal direction is debatable - highly engaging content is also more likely to receive awards.
How Can Brands Use Awards Strategically?
Create content worth awarding. The best strategy is indirect: publish genuinely valuable content that community members want to award organically. In-depth guides, original data, helpful tools, and thoughtful analysis earn awards naturally. A post in r/startups sharing real revenue numbers and lessons learned will earn awards because the community values transparency.
Award community contributions. Some brands allocate a small monthly budget to award excellent community posts and comments from other users - not their own content. This builds brand reputation and goodwill within the subreddit. When your brand account consistently awards helpful content from others, community members associate your brand with positive contributions rather than self-promotion.
Never award your own posts from alt accounts. Reddit's anti-manipulation systems detect coordinated activity, and getting caught self-awarding can result in account bans and permanent reputational damage in the community. The Reddit karma system and moderator vigilance make this an extremely risky tactic with minimal upside.
Focus on awards as a signal, not a strategy. Organic awards are a useful indicator that your content resonates with the community. If your posts consistently receive awards, your content strategy is working. If they do not, focus on improving content quality rather than trying to manufacture awards.
How Do Awards Fit Into Reddit Marketing?
For startups marketing on Reddit, awards are best understood as a byproduct of good content rather than a distribution lever you can pull directly. The companies that earn the most organic awards on Reddit are those that provide genuine value to communities - answering questions, sharing insights, and participating authentically.
The visibility boost from awards is meaningful but temporary. A post that earns multiple awards gets a short-term engagement spike, but long-term Reddit success comes from consistent community participation and a reputation for helpful contributions. Awards amplify content that is already working - they do not fix content that the community does not value.