I think the "standard vs special races" discussion is for another thread.
Speaking for myself, I'm not interested at all in special races aside from a few novelties and would always rather pick something that enhanced a standard race a bit. I say "enhance" because it's not unreasonable to want your greater or major award character to feel a little "special" and unique. Hence why not allow a hin to be the one-in-a-hundred thousand who's stronger than the rest of their kind. I mean if we're talking letting them start at 20 or 22 str like many other races it's not going to break the game and it might be worth a greater or major to some people. (I think templates are the way to go, similar to bloodlines where there's a tradeoff and ECL cost maybe, instead of subbing race stats out)
I don't think you need that to play a fun character either, but this is about "what can we do to add more awards?", and I think at least this will entice players who want a "unique" character to spend an award on an outwardly standard race with no special wings and tails. We may end up with the same amount of "I'm different" characters, but it won't feel like it when wandering cities because it's not immediately apparent. That's all.