I USED TO JUDGE MANY OF THE awards competitions in town, but I?ve steered clear of most of them because I?ve realized, sadly, that they aren?t reliable gauges of excellence.

What?s an award for, if it doesn?t authentically and reliably honor outstanding achievement? So, I?ve decided to stop being an accessory to the ?crime? and generally stopped judging competitions, period.

Why have many tilts lost their credibility? First: Because some competitions have proven to be quite profitable, new tilts are being launched each season?for all the wrong reasons (profit, power, influence, etc.), thus further corrupting and diluting an already questionable field.

Second: The level of judging has markedly gone down. Time was when only people of proven acumen and objectivity were tapped to serve as jurors. These days, however, the field has been infiltrated by ?luminaries? who aren?t experts in the field being judged and are there simply because they?re well-connected or need the publicity to further shine up their reputations.

To make things worse, some of these so-called judges don?t even bother to view all of the entries they?re supposed to evaluate. How can they possibly determine who?s the best? They can?t?and don?t.

They use subjective and imprecise ?standards? like ?educated? guesses?or they seek advice from better-informed people, or succumb to persuasion from pressure groups?and thus come up with questionable and sometimes even shocking decisions that make more knowledgeable people in the field lose respect for the entire awards process itself.

Worst of all are the jurors who assign ?surrogate? or ?assistant? judges to do the work for them. They don?t have time to view the entries themselves?so, why did they take on the job in the first place?

We?re not even talking about ?decisions? that have, in fact, been bought for a hefty price. So, what?s to believe or respect?

It?s awards season once more, so brace yourself for the latest round of dubious ?winners? and downright shockers who will run up the stage, all smiles and babbling in breathless gratitude, as knowledgeable people in the audience look at each other in confusion or dismay, muttering, ?He (or she) won for that??

The well-informed can protect themselves with their knowledge, but what about the general public? It believes in awards, because they?re supposed to provide standards or touchstones for viewers to know what?s outstanding or excellent about the entertainment they?re viewing, the better for them to raise their own standards. If ?official? awards can no longer be relied on to provide that key service, what?s an ?ordinary? viewer to do?

First, decide for yourself which competitions? verdicts are reliable and deserve your trust. Believe only in them and disbelieve the rest. Second, develop your own critical skills, so you can?t be made a fool of. Third, don?t give so much importance to awards?this way, they will lose some of their power to impress or persuade, which is why biased or incompetent jurors want to subvert them, in the first place.