Awards 
In 1977, I entered a California-based short story competition on a whim, thinking I might be the only entrant writing about life outside the United States. Imagine my surprise when my story, Fire at Ngong Ping, took top honors and was published in The Literary Messenger. That was certainly easy. So the following year, I entered a local contest sponsored by The Five Seasons and won first prize with my story entitled The Road to Kampong Maju. Say, where is the challenge in this? And more importantly, where is the money? Those contests made payment in copies.
I firmly believe writers should be paid for their craft. I once wrote a limerick that ranked first in a contest put on by the Seagull newsletter. I received a nice silver pendant for that (long since lost or pawned), which was almost like getting paid. On another occasion, one of my haiku took first prize in the Tokyo English Literature Society's annual poetry competition and won close to $50. On a per word basis, that's probably the most I've ever earned. But poetry rarely pays as well as prose, and non-fiction, especially magazine articles and advertising copy, remained my bread-winner for many years.
In 1982, Asiaweek magazine ranked An Unarranged Marriage among the best fiction received that year. No publication; no payment. A decade later All Nippon Airways gave me a lovely little trophy for Right from the Start. Fortunately, it was also chosen to appear in their inflight magazine WingSpan in January 1993, so I received a bit of cash for that one. But the whole concept of judging one piece of writing against another, then lauding the winner without giving fair compensation for the work just doesn't seem fair to me. As a result, I've stopped entering contests altogether.
Musicians get fees for their concerts. Speakers get honoraria for their presentations. Call me a literary mercenary, but if you want to give me an award, give me some money too. I expected to be paid for my writing.