They haven’t got me any gigs, but I didn’t really put an amazing amount of time into them. I submitted work that I sent out as my regular cartoon.

My only goal was to gain more readers and possibly win some stuff.

I think you make a mistake by conflating cartooning awards with the
contests put on by Lamda Legal, The Union of Concerned Scientists, and
The Telemarketing Industry (I missed that last one, but placed in the
first two).

They don’t offer awards–they offer prizes for winning the contest. In
both of those contests, Judges pick finalists and Internet Voting was
used to determine the winner. That’s a far cry from having juries give
prestigious awards to cartoonists. I don’t anticipate the phrase
“Lamda Legal contest winning cartoonist” appearing in any one’s bio.

You are right that they merely want to draw attention to their
organization and cause–that’s the whole point of the Internet voting.
I think that’s a bad way to find a winner, but they are there to serve
their own interests, not just promote cartooning itself as an art
form.

In regards to what Daryl Cagle is talking about, I haven’t entered any
major award contests yet, but plan to this year. I certainly won’t be
doing any animation work which I worry will preclude me from even
being considered (not that I have a chance anyway).

Cagle is dead on that it is a bad business decision to start doing
this, but even if it was a good decision I don’t see myself doing it.
It’s something that is completely different from comics–animation vs.
static drawings. Scott McCloud must be disappointed. There’s some good
work being done (Fiore) but it shouldn’t be judged along side comics.
What criteria would you even use to compare the two. That logic would
lead to graphic novels being judged along side animated films.