Some awards are highly prized and they make for good competition.
Others you can earn just by having a site which utilizes someone's graphic promises not to promote promiscuity or abstains from obscenity and pornography. Contending for awards is a great way to learn about what makes a winning website and it aids in getting your page exposed. If you check the links on all the trophies I've received you'll be able to tell which ones took some genuine effort to obtain. I've also checked out some awards which promise great things, however in order to contend for them you have to add graphics all over your pages and spend a lot of time in promotion. I have turned down a few awards for that reason, as I want to keep my retreat clean and uncluttered. . . without doing so, my whole purpose will have faded in the midst.