The Clitorides Awards were created in 1999 by Maria Gonzales and John A with the purpose of helping promote good stories and good authors, and, at the same time, stroking the ego of the authors. :)
It was also suggested that there is a dearth of "acceptable reviewers", and the various awards serve to spotlight stories that someone felt were worthy of a read. (Maria herself stated that this was one of her chief goals) :-)
This site's mission is to carry on with this noble goal, and to bring the erotica writing community together.