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In the Grey’s Anatomy Universe, there is one thing that everyone strives to attain. It is the elusive Harper Avery Award, also known as the Catherine Fox Award, that is proof that one surgeon is going above and beyond the call of duty with innovative thought to gain success.

Ellen Pompeo as Meredith Grey smiling in front of a gray background
Ellen Pompeo as Meredith Grey | Mike Rosenthal via Getty Images

In season 14, episode 7, “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story” the elusive reward is given to Dr. Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo). However, many fans are underwhelmed by the big award being given to her.

What did Meredith do to get the honor of a Harper Avery Award?

In season 14, Megan Hunt (Abigail Spencer) made her first appearance on Grey’s Anatomy. She was the sister of Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd) and the fiancée of Nathan Riggs (Martin Henderson). Until this appearance, it had been assumed to Megan had died when her plane was shot down 10 years before.

Instead, she shows up, seriously injured from a wound that had never healed. Most of her abdomen was missing. Meredith came up with the idea to perform an abdominal wall transplant, using the stomach of a corpse with similar skin color.

The surgery was a success and the last time we saw Megan, as she was heading to Los Angeles to live out her life with Nathan and her adopted son Farouk (Bardia Seiri).

Why some fans feel the Harper Avery was underwhelming

A fan went to Reddit to talk about the Harper Avery and said that though it was “meant to be a massive achievement and yet it doesn’t feel that grand.” Their reasoning was that she won it for the abdominal wall surgery, but later in the season creates mini livers, which would have been more award-worthy. It was a comment that several others chimed in on.

This is not the first time there has been speculation about Meredith taking home the prestigious award. There are many who feel that it was a plot hole since it was acknowledged by Meredith herself that no one who worked at Grey-Sloan hospital would be able to win the award.

Fans wonder why she brought it home when Christina Yang (Sandra Oh) was denied one for being in a hospital associated with the Harper Avery Foundation. She also won it for a surgery that had been done twice before.

There is also speculation within the post that Christina perhaps deserved it more for her printed conduct. However, it is also expressed that Christina got something better in the end than an award when she was given a hospital in Switzerland.

The truth behind the victory: was it deserved?

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With the absolution of the Harper Avery Foundation and the start of the Catherine Fox Foundation, the rules changed regarding the award. However, Meredith had already had her award, because it is mentioned that she worked too hard and wanted it re-engraved.

This came as the scandal involving Harper Avery’s abuse of women was revealed and proves that there could have been some validity behind the plot hole thought. However, Meredith is the show’s main character, which puts her on a pedestal in many ways.

She won her award on the show’s 300th episode, and it was used to show her growth as a surgeon. At that moment, we see her as the dedicated surgeon, the single mother, the woman who fought her way from the bottom to the top, as her mother Ellis Grey (Kate Burton) had done.

Since the 300th episode was also meant to be a look back at all Meredith had gone through, all the characters we want to return to the show, etc. It is befitting that we see her grown up and the fact that she saw Ellis applauding her was also significant since she spent a lot of her time up to that point trying to live up to her mom’s high expectations of her.

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