Are you sure that the people doing the criticizing are the same people giving out the trophies?

> so I definitely mean it in a derogatory way against people their age

The way you had used it, as commentary on middle managers, seem to include people from Baby Boomers all the way to Millennials.

> I'm criticizing them as a cohort, not because of their current age

In which case it sounds like using the age identifier would be incorrect.

I criticize them as a generational cohort for being the most entitled, wasteful, short-sighted generation that has ever lived, and has done more to screw up the entire world they are handing on to their children than anyone in history.

They have done this at every stage of their lives, but especially once they were old enough to be having children.

I don't mean as a cohort, I mean as individuals. I have my doubts that the exact same person who has given out participation trophies is the one who criticized. I think you are mixing two separate groups into one, by using their birth years as a commonality.

Also, I suspect that participation trophies is a Western creation, perhaps even an American phenomenon, and the Boomers who are not part of those cultures did not participate in those actitivities.