Do awards matter?

I would counter that just because you feel the people judging have no clue doesn't mean they don't matter elsewhere, as you noted.

 

I agree with this. I wrote a story that finished second in the state competition, then put it up again in the regional and finished first. While I was happy I won and said I wrote the best story in the region, deep down, I knew it wasn't that big of a deal. Still, a very proud Mrs. Gator hung the plaque on the wall.

 

This.

Obviously, winning awards can't do anything but help you. I don't know what the APSE judging is like, but at the state level the winners may very well be determined by one stupid schmuck's opinion. And I know this because I've been the stupid schmuck a couple of times.

I've done judging twice when my state press association was doing it for other states. My association had reciprocal arrangements with other states to do judging. I enjoyed doing it, and would volunteer again. But clearly it's extremely subjective. The two times I served as a judge, I was the only sports guy involved, so I did all the sports stories and sections for those two states. Me. And nobody else. So the winners were whatever caught my eye.

I'm sure that makes everyone feel pretty good.

 

I'll echo what several others have said. When I first got going in the business, I wanted awards to prove validation or something. I won some state-level awards in Washington. But when you go to awards banquets and see what wins vs. what doesn't win, you quickly realize how subjective the whole thing is. One group of judges could give your piece a first-place prize; another group of judges could give that same piece no attention at all.
As was mentioned by Shoeless Joe, what means more to me is people on the street telling you good job or thanking you for your work.
Like flex, I wonder if it's worth spending the money on contests. I haven't submitted anything at my current shop, in large part because if we have the money to submit for contests, I'd more rather save that money for freelancers or equipment in the office. You know, stuff that could help me on a regular basis as opposed to a chance to get a piece of paper just in case that group of people likes my writing.
At my last shop, management really pushed for entering contests. We had a lazy reporter who was also supposed to do a column once a week. He did a column every couple of months, basically one story a week and several rearranged press releases and a couple of photos within a couple of blocks of the office. Yet one of his crappy columns won an award. The rest of us submitted some good stuff (in our respective opinions) and got nada.

 

Lots of good comments here.

My current shop's philosophy echoes what murphyc said ... we haven't done the statewide contests in several years because, with funding and staffing so tight, there's much better usage for the entry fees and time it takes to get the entries together.

However, when I was younger in the 1990s, there was a statewide award I won which did mean a great deal to me -- and the company -- back when I was a news editor and reporter. The publisher actually brought in a catered meal for the newsroom after our li'l daily paper in Podunk, Michigan, won for reporting that has an impact in the community.

In a career with its fair share of lowlights, I still remember that one fondly.

 

Awards mean a lot to the higher ups. I think they view the lowly sporto's first-place win in the state contest for sports columns as their award.

To me, I've learned through the years that awards are like music. Someone can read your story and think, "Wow!" Someone else can read it and think, "What utter crap." I learned that through the years of winning awards in state contests but rarely getting a sniff in the chain's contest. Plus, a guy I used to work with used to rake in awards. But he was notorious for doing only the bare minimum. He never came up with feature ideas on his own, rarely followed up gamers, etc. But he could hit a column out of the park.

 

Whenever I win an award, the plaque usually ends up on a brag wall my mom has set up for her three kids. So every time I need to do a new resume, I'm calling mom and asking her what it says on the plaques, because I honestly don't remember.

They mean enough for me to want to put them on a resume. They don't mean enough for me to actually want to keep the award or remember what it is.

 

It definitely feels good to win them and they look good at your desk, but do they matter in the grand scheme of things? That's a question more focused at employers, IMO.

 

They definitely matter... After the inevitable comes and you lose your job, you can burn them to stay warm...

 

Yes, mine are in a stack out of sight on a high shelf in our laundry room

My thoughts..."Great, some guy in South Carolina liked my story/page or photo...whoopee."

The best part is that our paper does a small write up of our paper's winners, so the following week, I'll be out and about covering things and a few people might come up and say congratulations.

 

Mine are in a box in the basement. The over/under on me taking them out again is never...

 

I'm competitive, so I love to win them. But, deep down, I know they don't matter. I've won more than a dozen, and I frame them and hang them up in my office at home.

It makes me look considerably more important/talented than I really am to friends and family. Plus, I'm a journalist, which means I'm poor and can't afford wall art. :'(