District beset by grass given a prize? (8)
I believe the answer is:
rewarded
'given a prize?' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with communicating as well as being past participle verbs.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?
'district beset by grass' is the wordplay.
'district' becomes 'ward' (council district).
'beset by' indicates putting letters inside ('beset' could historically mean 'cover').
'grass' becomes 'reed' (type of grass plant).
'ward' placed within 'reed' is 'REWARDED'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for rewarded that I've seen before include "Compensated" , "Recompensed for service" , "profiting by it" , "Given something in recognition of effort" , "Gave something in recognition of achievement" .)