Marvel No-Prize
A No-Prize is a sham award given out by Marvel Comics to readers. Originally for those who spotted continuity errors in the comics, the current "No-Prizes" are given out for "meritorious service to the cause of Marveldom", such as charitable works.
Origin
The No-Prize, originally implemented in the 1960's, was inspired by the policies of many other comic publishers of the time - namely, that if a fan found a continuity error in a comic and wrote a letter to the publisher of the comic, he or she would receive a prize, either cash, comics, or something similar.
When readers began pressuring Marvel to start giving out a similar prize, Stan Lee instituted the "No-Prize," which was originally nothing more than Stan Lee publishing the letter in his "Stan's Soapbox" column and informing the letter writer that he or she had won a "No-Prize," which was nothing.
Although the No-Prize had been intended by Stan as a reminder for his readers to "lighten up" and read comics for pleasure rather than for prizes, they soon became very popular, and recipients of the No-Prize began to write Stan and ask him why they had not received a prize. In response, he began mailing empty envelopes that said "Congratulations, this envelope contains a genuine Marvel Comics No-Prize which you have just won!" to people who had received No-Prizes.
After Stan Lee
After Stan Lee stepped down from being editor-in-chief of Marvel in 1972, the various editors of Marvel's books who were in charge of dispensing No-Prizes developed vastly differing policies towards awarding it. These policies ranged from Ralph Macchio's policy of giving them away to anyone who wrote a letter asking for one, to Mike Higgins' policy of not awarding them at all.
After a few years of this, in 1986, Mark Gruenwald informed readers that his office would no longer award No-Prizes to anyone. The amount of No-Prizes given out after this plummeted, and before long they were eliminated altogether.
On July 31st, 2006, Marvel Executive Editor Tom Brevoort instituted the digital No-Prize to be awarded for "Meritorious Service to Marveldom" and the first of these was awarded on August 12th, 2006 to a group of Marvel fans who donated a large number of comics to U.S. service members stationed in Iraq. [1]
References
1, 2 Mark's Remarks Index