Final answer:
There are 19,600 ways to award the prizes.
Step-by-step explanation:
In this scenario, the prizes are awarded to three winners out of fifty people. The order in which the prizes are awarded does not matter. To determine the number of ways the prizes can be awarded, we can use the concept of combinations. The number of combinations of 3 winners from a group of 50 people is given by the formula:
C(50,3) = 50! / (3!(50-3)!)
By simplifying the expression, we find that there are:
C(50,3) = 19600 ways to award the prizes.