A swarm of insect technically counts as a single "creature", but Awaken only specifics targeting a "beast" or "plant". Note it doesn't say a single beast or plant, just a beast or plant. That being said a Swarm of Insects are called out as "Medium swarm of Tiny Beasts", so I can also see that awakening a swarm will just result in a single insect being awakened instead of the whole swarm, even though the Insect Swarm is the target "creature".
I was just thinking about this due to the nature of swarms as creatures. Obviously when you target a swarm with any other spell such as Magic Missile or Vicious Mockery, you're affecting the whole swarm, not just an individual insect who takes all of the affects. But I wonder if the same would apple to spells like Awaken, Polymorph, or teleport (Can you bring a whole swarm with you, or only 7-8 insects out of that swarm?).
