I think most song contests are nothing more than cash-grabs, but some do have value. At least w/ this one you get a SongU.com lesson for free. I've entered others where every single entry gets a written critique from and industry pro (and they have been pretty insightful in my experience.) Those are the few contests worth entering.
I entered contests until I'd won a few and could call myself and "award-winning songwriter", which really means nothing as far as $ is concerned, but does establish some legitimacy for yourself. You know your songs have acheived a certain level of proficiency.
Song contests in my experience do virturally nothing for you in terms of getting your songs to people that can do something with them. For that there's really no other way but pounding the pavement and networking and hoping for the right break.
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