With the passage of time we forget where the money came from, especially as the list of illustrious winners mounts up and the prestige of the authors gets reflected back on the funding institution.
This year Donald Trump joins past illustrious "winners" such as Vladimir Putin (2007), Rudy Giuliani (2001), Newt Gingrich (1995), Ayatollah Khomeini (1979), Joseph Stalin (twice, 1939 and 1942), and Adolf Hitler (1938).
Only an illustrious winner, and Oakmont has a history of precisely that, will return discussion towards that of more routine major matters.
Nearly 20 new and up-coming children's authors are battling for the chance to join such illustrious past winners of the Waterstones children's books prize as Sita Brahmachari, Jonny Duddle (illustrator of the new Harry Potter covers!) Annabel Pitcher and Katherine Rundell (and, incredibly, 15 of the 18 books on the 2015 shortlist are by women!).
The champions dinner, or Masters Club as it officially known, sees the illustrious group of former Masters champions gather ahead of the first major of the year to welcome back the latest recipient of the aforementioned famous winner's green jacket.
Tom's take: "Amy Adams wins for her fifth Globe nomination — a great bit of awards-season justice being done — joining an illustrious tent of winners that includes Marilyn Monroe, Rosalind Russell, Shirley Maclaine, Diane Keaton and Judy Garland.
Eryn Green, a doctoral candidate at the University of Denver, has joined Adrienne Rich, John Ashbery, W.S. Merwin and Jack Gilbert on the illustrious list of winners of the Yale Series of Younger Poets prize, the nation's oldest annual literary award.
Who will join the illustrious list of winners that includes Nelson Mandela (jointly with Frederik Willem de Klerk), Aung San Suu Kyi,Médecins Sans Frontières, Mother Teresa....and, er, Barack Obama and Henry Kissinger?
It remains their most illustrious ODI success.
In winning a "special citation," Williams joined an illustrious list of fellow winners that includes Duke Ellington (1999), Thelonious Monk (2006), John Coltrane (2007) and Bob Dylan (2008).
Roeg will accept the award, joining illustrious and varied past winners including Dirk Bogarde, Lewis Gilbert, Quentin Tarantino and Kristin Scott Thomas, during the annual ceremony at BFI Southbank.
