Beware the lure of 'awards'

A bit of advice for up-and-coming artists, promoted by a piece of spam I received this morning:

Don't be tempted to pay for the chance to win 'awards'!

Whilst these offers aren't strictly speaking scams, they will relieve you of a lot of money for precisely zero benefit. If you want an award, draw one on a piece of paper and give it to yourself. This way you'll not only save money and improve your art skills, you will have an award no less valuable than what you'd get from these jokers.