diff --git a/app/helpers/issues_helper.rb b/app/helpers/issues_helper.rb
index 4fe843221996eec9c40c5b342d50b5ebfb355199..c1053554fbdcbe21eb76d4f68a0980b126da6fcc 100644
--- a/app/helpers/issues_helper.rb
+++ b/app/helpers/issues_helper.rb
@@ -120,6 +120,18 @@ module IssuesHelper
     end
   end
 
+  def awards_sort(awards)
+    awards.sort_by do |award, notes|
+      if award == "thumbsup"
+        0
+      elsif award == "thumbsdown"
+        1
+      else
+        2
+      end
+    end.to_h
+  end
+
   # Required for Banzai::Filter::IssueReferenceFilter
   module_function :url_for_issue
 end
diff --git a/app/views/votes/_votes_block.html.haml b/app/views/votes/_votes_block.html.haml
index e16187bb42f8d6f4965cb2a5b54a8daf4427ac34..ce0a0113403328f7c4d75b540fab4d746c03714f 100644
--- a/app/views/votes/_votes_block.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/votes/_votes_block.html.haml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 .awards.votes-block
-  - votable.notes.awards.grouped_awards.each do |emoji, notes|
+  - awards_sort(votable.notes.awards.grouped_awards).each do |emoji, notes|
     .award{class: (note_active_class(notes, current_user)), title: emoji_author_list(notes, current_user)}
       = emoji_icon(emoji)
       .counter
diff --git a/features/steps/project/issues/award_emoji.rb b/features/steps/project/issues/award_emoji.rb
index a7e1539881906c38efc859fa7e86438383b0123e..12cf8860ec60043ebedc9767cec4c61d808f871a 100644
--- a/features/steps/project/issues/award_emoji.rb
+++ b/features/steps/project/issues/award_emoji.rb
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ class Spinach::Features::AwardEmoji < Spinach::FeatureSteps
   step 'I have award added' do
     page.within '.awards' do
       expect(page).to have_selector '.award'
-      expect(page.find('.award .counter')).to have_content '1'
+      expect(page.find('.award.active .counter')).to have_content '1'
     end
   end
 
diff --git a/spec/helpers/issues_helper_spec.rb b/spec/helpers/issues_helper_spec.rb
index 04e795025d20912cf7166f8d219a377d02bc120c..68df460da2d226edc6ee045db0ac61a5ef9eebad 100644
--- a/spec/helpers/issues_helper_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/helpers/issues_helper_spec.rb
@@ -141,4 +141,11 @@ describe IssuesHelper do
       expect(note_active_class(Note.all, @note.author)).to eq("active")
     end
   end
+
+  describe "#awards_sort" do
+    it "sorts a hash so thumbsup and thumbsdown are always on top" do
+      data = {"thumbsdown" => "some value", "lifter" => "some value", "thumbsup" => "some value"}
+      expect(awards_sort(data).keys).to eq(["thumbsup", "thumbsdown", "lifter"])
+    end
+  end
 end