For all the hundreds of articles (and untold thousands of blog posts) I’ve written over the past 20 years, I only began receiving money for my work when I joined Medium.

Thing is, it’s not the money (which certainly helps), but the *validation*. At the risk of sounding narcissistic, those deposits in my checking account mean that people consider my words worth reading…and that’s worth more than any money to me.

So I am deeply grateful to the team at Medium, and I’ve already entered all four categories. If I don’t win a penny, that’s fine — I’m just glad for the opportunity to contribute.