They do like money, but Valve also loves providing a service to people.
Nobody uses Epic Games, Origin, Ubisoft Connect, or Battle.net because they want to, they use it because they have to.
Steam Awards is a bit janky sure, but to say that their inability to run pointless awards properly ruins the convenience and value that Steam brings to its users would be a gross overstatement.
It's not "irregular", and it's been done before as protest. A Buddhist monk did it in the past to protest the slaughter of cattle.
https://www.nydailynews.com/2013/05/24/buddhist-monk-sets-himself-on-fire-to-protest-slaughter-of-cattle-in-sri-lanka/