The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 11 letter word BOOBY-PRIZE
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
B
O
O
B
Y
-
P
R
I
Z
E
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "reward for failure" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case reward for failure = booby-prize.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.