I feel the same way, I understand putting a limit on it. However, these are suppose to be community awards, and therefore involve the community in determining who gets those rewards. Excluding a rather large portion of the community just doesn't feel right, in light of that.

I know we're trying to limit abuse, but abuse is probably going to happen somewhat anyway. Even if it's not intended abuse, users will vote for their favourite users despite what they've done in the previous year. There's always going to be a bias. I think the threshold for merit should be lowered though. Try to exclude those that haven't been considered by those with merit, to have contributed greatly enough yet, but don't not include those that have earned a decent amount of merit. 50 is a lot, especially when you're a newish user that has joined this year.