Anyway, children’s drawing contests and the serious design contests I am interested in nowadays are like night and day. A professional drawing contest is a big deal. Even the cartooning contests I entered in college were pretty significant. Most college art contests and writing contests won’t exactly launch your career, but they will you be an edge over other people. Being able to say that you have been published or recognized when you are only 19 or 20 is really something. It looks good on you portfolio and impresses your peers like nothing else. Best of all, art contests allow you to get used to sharing your works with other people. New artists need to be able to deal with rejection, and getting feedback from a few contests while you are a kid helps you learn that skill.