Should they all get A's?

I recently turned in grades for the quarter and was shocked to discover one of my sections of English had earned almost exclusively A's. Great Scott! I thought to myself: How can this be? Am I that easy peezy teacher that hands out good grades like breath mints?

What caused this drastic disturbance to the rigor of academia?
The largest single factor in student grades so far was a project in response to The Catcher in the Rye. Because I use moodle (an online class-organization tool) to organize class, I asked students to turn in many mini-assignments along the way. Browsing through their rough drafts on the computer I noticed they lacked meaningful introductions, so we spent a day on that. I noticed they struggled to wrap things up—we covered conclusions too. I asked a series of questions that applied to all of their projects to help narrow the focus and improve the textual references.
Surprise! Many of the final products were great. Some were even (gasp*) a little brilliant.

Technology appears to improve the communication between teacher and student. It allows me to peer in on their thinking process. I see where they need help; they do everything I ask of them on their self-directed projects. I almost felt, grading those projects, as if I had no choice but to give them A's because they completed every task I set out before them.

Or was I simply wowed by how quickly they mastered comic life and voicethread?

Clearly, as we ask students to take on more creative projects, we will need to find more creative ways to grade them. But on the other hand, as we set students up for success by providing the time, opportunity, and feedback to pursue their ideas fully, shouldn't we hand over the gold star when they emerge victorious? In an ideal classroom, wouldn't every student earn an A?