Intriguing! I thought I knew the expression "sour grapes" as it comes from an Aesop fable. But I looked it up, since you used it in an unfamiliar context, just to see if the idiom had some additional meaning that I was unaware of.
It has not. It is still the usual "Disparagement of something that has proven unattainable".

Since I got one in 2014, as mentioned in the very first sentence of the article, I'm a little bit at loss as to why you believe I would find it "unattainable"?

You do know that until last week, there were only one "Committee Chairman" for the Merlin "Award", right?
One Mr. Max Toth, who have been signing his name on letters regarding the "awards" up until very recently.
Well... this Max Toth died eleven years ago, in March 2011.

If your "business" require you to forge a dead man's signatur for over a decade, for no sensible reason other than appearances, there something wrong.
I'm not saying you're not allowed to admire the scam. Go ahead. But don't pretend it isn't a scam.

Brilliant summation, Tom!