I've been back to brewing since January of last year after a multi-year layoff. I was never into competitions, but I've gotten heavily involved with the club here and they've been pushing me to start entering some beers. Finally got around to entering a few, so I entered 5 in this year's Bluebonnet Brewoff. I took second in the smoked beer category with a smoked chili ESB that I brewed damn near a year ago.
While I've never put a lot of stock into competitions, it does feel pretty good to win something for a recipe I designed and brewed myself. I entered a Trappist single (my house beer) that actually scored higher, but the category was tougher. For one, it's hard to get attention with a small beer in that category. The biggest problem is that it was undercarbed. Not sure why, but I chalk it up to being my first time using my Beer Gun.
Our club is relatively small, but we had a blast. And I got some damn good feedback on the stuff I entered. I can kinda see why people get into the competitions!