This is a great article! For the most part, I steer clear of contests. However, I won the Christmas memories contest in the local paper last year and I've had a lot of great opportunities come as a result of that. A sister paper ran a review of my latest novel, which was absolutely fantastic. I also won almost $700 in an essay contest once, but wins are few and far between. I prefer the good chance at a lower payout that comes from regular submissions than the small chance at a huge payout (especially when that entails a reading fee). Your article does a terrific job of weighing the pros and cons of contests, nice work!