It's why Pixar will never win a Best Picture, because giving GOTY to a game that's explicitly aimed towards children is simply not going to happen. It's why Nintendo, despite putting out some of the highest-reviewed games in the industry, didn't really see a major GOTY win until it made its most traditionally-western title, most relatively 'mature' title in BotW.
Or maybe:
(1) People believed personally that, in certain respects, there were stronger candidates than TLoU:P2 to win GOTY
(2) However, when it came to games that traditionally do win GOTY, there was much less competition
I don't see how that's hypocritical. The fact that the game's greatest competition was an independent 2D roguelike with a significantly smaller player-base should show this quite well. Certain games always win these major awards, and all props to TLoU:P2 because when it came to those certain games it blew all of its competition out of the water.
...or do people seriously think that TLoU:P2 vs. Ghost of Tshushima, Cyberpunk 2077, and FFVIIr were in any way similar to the "RDR2 vs. GoW," or "GTAV vs. TLoU," battles of the past?