Do Invitational Competition awards matter?

<p>There are practice academic competitions for State, Regional, and District competitions in my state, but do they(these invitational awards) matter at all? I got regional finalist in extemp my freshman yr, 1st places for extemp in invitational competitions in my sopjomore yr but didn;t compete in my sophomore for district(my coordinator forbid me to compete because my parents cannot go to district competition with me(that was so absurd and abhorrent) )
I will be a junior soon, but I am not sure if I need to compete in invitational competitions, since theyare not typically "real", but they still give out awards....
Any Suggestion?</p>