To be fair, tricky award says "a member" not necessarily the captain, they gonna give it to Sylvia, either by having them vote who gets it and she wins, or the teachers already decided, this was mostly her arc. BUT, i would argue that a good captain can make his team members give their best, without Iruma's leadership 0 character development would have occurred.
Art Battler winning was 100% a cop out, just like last time, at least they are likeable, unlike those from the radio battler or whatever the fuck it was called, who were background characters at most.