People in finance aren't normally shy about winning prizes. But the inaugural Asian Brokers Awards dinner had many ducking for cover - such was the fear of being nominated for and winning gongs like the "Ted Turner Award for humility" - for the region's most arrogant fund manager - and the "Leaving Las Vegas Award" - for the broker most famed for being slumped over bars nursing double scotches in the name of strengthening client relationships.
The Steady Safe Corporate Finance Deal of the Year - in reference to the Indonesian taxi firm deal that brought about the collapse of Peregrine and given for transactions that crash - was fiercely contested.
Among the favourites were Merrill Lynch for its disastrous rights issue for Chartered Semiconductor and Deutsche Bank for taking Media Nation public and then seeing the shares plummet. The winner, however, was Morgan Stanley. Not so much for its China Telecom fiasco, but more because it banned staff from the event for fear of generating bad publicity. So to make that clear, Morgan Stanley won the award for dog deal of the year.
The "Hugh Hefner Entertainment Award" in recognition of extravagance was always going to Deutsche Bank for its "1864-1964 Grand Crus wine tasting evening".