I didn’t watch the Academy Awards, and I don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve been in a theater for a first run movie.

In general I don’t like award shows, or even awards. They all seem like comittees of the unfit created to recognize the best of the mediocre. Politicking and campaigning for votes is not only OK, it’s encouraged.

This year “Hurt Locker” won the Oscar for Best Picture. I haven’t seen it, or Avatar, so I don’t know which I like better, but I do know one thing.

James Cameron is winning the ultimate prize.

The “Hurt Locker” has, up until Monday grossed $14.7 million at the box office in the US. Not bad at all, but the production budget was $15 million dollars. They have a gold man, but they are still $300K in the hole. (And the market for US military movies overseas is non-existent.)

“Avatar” on the other hand had a $500 Million budget… but, get this, has grossed over 2.5 Billion in worldwide box office sales.

Having a business mind, I know which project I’d rather be a part of, and it’s not the one with the gold statue, it’s the one that has a 5 to 1 ROI.

I mention this because I see a lot of online businesses and even traditional advertising agencies posting about their big award at the whocares.com conference. Or how their last campaign was nominated for a Cleo.

I don’t care what kind of hardware you have on your mantle, and I’ll assure you that my bank doesn’t either. All I want is cash in the bank. If your advertising/product/business will be profitable, I could care less what awards you may have or be mentioned for.

If I am profitable, that means one thing… that I am providing solid value to the group that has the only vote that counts. They vote with their pocketbooks and are emotionally and monetarily invested in my business.

I know that “Hurt Locker” will make millions more in the weeks to come because they are Oscar winners. But, they give away Oscars every year. There is, however, only one highest grossing movie of all time (And Avatar will continue to add to it’s impressive box office numbers).

The point is, if you ever listen to or read someones features/benefits statement, and they refer to being a winner of this or that award, you may want to hit the door, close the web browser, or unfollow them on Twitter. It may be likely they do not have your best interests in mind, and are just looking for someone to fund their next award campaign, whether it is of value to you or not.

And, if you are an entrepreneur, DO NOT set out to win awards, but set out to provide massive amounts of value to those that really do the voting… your customers. Happy customers that return again and again will be all the reward you need.