… except that “known and respected awards” are just that — known and respected. The topic of this article are the scam ones. Awards like the ones described herein are a scam. Period. They do not resemble known and respected contests, even if those other ones do require entry fees. Take the Nicholl Awards, for example. They are the most respected, most prestigious awards for spec screenplays. If you win a Nicholl, you are all but guaranteed a career in screenwriting, and that feather in your cap will impress industry pros, even if you had to pay an entry fee. I hear you… but in the end, I want the take-home message of this article to be that these awards are scams. Overall, they are bad things, run by sheisters who don’t care one iota about any business they award to. It’s purely a revenue-making scam. Anyway, that’s my take 100%, even with the various concessions made in the article and in this discussion.