D'Cats--

I saw an ad in Acoustic Guitar for a guitar company that featured Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer. The ad mentioned that they were winners of the Kerrville (I assume TX) Songwriters' contest and a couple of other songwriting contests.

What are people's thoughts on songwriting contests? Are these worthwhile venues for people to get their material listened to A&R types? Is it more productive to forget about the contests and just record independently? All opinions on the topic are of interest!

V