There's a difference between the two types of "most improved" we're each speaking about, and I'd not argue with the correctness of your observation. I'm referencing the equivalent of a person who has an idea for an app, webservice, movie, album, etc., gets it crowd-funded, makes it, and finds that it is enjoyed by tens of people. You're speaking about the equivalent of a guy who under trained and ran two years in HS, walks onto a DIII team, is a high responder to training stimulus, wins a bunch of titles on the DIII level, graduates and gets a shot to run with even faster guys as a pro, continues to respond to the new level, and ends up as a major name.
(Obviously mixing our analogies to match the other person's.)
I do, however, suppose that making a broad statement of "there are no no awards for most improved" was a bit broad, but I mainly intended it as hyperbole.