What do they judge on at beer competitions? When you see advertising for beer, some of them advertise awards that they have won at various beer festivals and/or competitions.

What are the judging standards at these competitions, and what are the most prestigious competitions?
There are SO many different subcategories now. You can download the full judging guidelines and registration into the different styles.

Main categories include:  


Beer  
Mead  
Cider  


Some of the sub-categories of beer include:  


LIGHT LAGER  
PILSNER  
EUROPEAN AMBER LAGER  
DARK LAGER  
BOCK  
LIGHT HYBRID BEER  
AMBER HYBRID BEER  
ENGLISH PALE ALE  
SCOTTISH AND IRISH ALE  
AMERICAN ALE  
ENGLISH BROWN ALE  
PORTER  
STOUT  
INDIA PALE ALE (IPA)  
GERMAN WHEAT AND RYE BEER  
BELGIAN AND FRENCH ALE  
SOUR ALE  
BELGIAN STRONG ALE  
STRONG ALE  
FRUIT BEER  
SPICE / HERB / VEGETABLE BEER  
SMOKE-FLAVORED AND WOOD-AGED BEER  
SPECIALTY BEER  


I think winning an award at any sanctioned competition would be huge. I do see the World Beer Awards, the US Open Beer Championships, Great American Beer Festival, and North American Beer Awards, just to name a few. There are also Homebrewing awards that are very competitive.