Manfish

Recipes 

I have no plans to enter a contest because I personally don't care what some "judge" says... as long as my friends and I like it, that's really all that matters.

carnevoodoo

Recipes 

Competitions with good judges can offer great feedback. I don't care what I win most of the time, and the only reason I'm slowing down entering competitions is because I've validated that my palate is as good as the national judges at the comps I've been to, and I can figure out what I want to do with my beer from that point.

I will judge going forward and enter in comps that have prizes like being able to brew on a professional system, but other than that, I don't need them anymore.

And I don't think there's anything wrong with people who want to compete. Sometimes the drive to win is what will make someone brew a better beer. This only helps the homebrew community because it pushes boundaries and produces tons of innovation that we all appreciate.

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hibbleton

Recipes 

I'm kind of on both sides of the fence here. I'm one of those people who normally doesn't care what other people like or what's "cool" (be it music, fashion, beer, whatever). However I did enter my Kentucky Common in a competition to see what judges thought and won first in the Specialty category. I didn't think it turned out all that great, but damn if it doesn't feel good to win a gold medal for something you created from scratch. I'm still awaiting the comments but just the fact that people liked my beer even though there were no guidelines or other examples to compare it to is nice. I say if you feel like entering competitions go for it; don't let anyone stop you. If you don't care what judges say about your beer that's fine too.