Whether HE understands that it's essentially a meaningless award isn't the point. My point is that the family apparently doesn't care about dignity or respect enough to allow him to win it on his own merits. (Of course, the people running the awards made it open to anyone to vote, but I'd bet they're only advertising the site in magazines and TV spots related to the sport itself.)
Plus, even at 8, I'd prefer to win an award as part of a competition, not because people looked at a description of my feats and accomplishments and decided to pick me. Not just find out one day "hey, you won this award". "What for? I haven't been in a contest in days."