Well, at times the tone is quite rough in this discussion here. Also rude behavior as well as rhetoric ambages are not very helpful for coming up with a sane and goal-oriented discussion, imho.

Personally, I think running into this conflict of interest was at least politically sub-optimal because this opens up the door for at least one part of the discussion that is currently going on. This may also weaken the position of some of the council members. However, I don't know about long term consequences.

On the other hand I cannot understand all the outrage here in retrospect. Honestly, _if_ this is such a big deal for the people who complain now you should have raised your voice before when the discussion of the rules or modalities about this award took place. And with "raise your voice" I do not mean a single post in some discussion but to really make your voice heard. Apparently, as can be seen in this thread, you also don't have any issue with repeatedly and colorfully stating opinions and questions. All this discussion could have also taken place before the decissions were made.

Edit: Maybe we all can take this as a lesson to participate in decisions while they are being made. Not afterwards, when the decisions had been made.