Well maybe don't just fill your lack of knowledge by simply making stuff up then, eh? People work hard on those awards, get called a lot of names for it, get very little thanks, and do it all for free because they feel that highlighting the people who make the stuff we play is worthwhile. Whether or not you are interested in their work, at least try to have some respect for the actual human beings involved; and if you can't even manage to do that... well, people ask why I (and others) stepped away in 2018. This is why.
People do work hard on them, and yes they deserve respect for that - it's like reviewing, a thankless task, especially in RPGS. I am not scorning the judges others who work on the ENNIES at all. If that's your impression of my comment I apologize to you.
Rather, I don't give the awards much credence and don't hold the ENNIES up as a way to find new voices in indie RPGs. More important to this thread - I don't think that an ENNIE is some kind of "get out of jail free card" for criticism of either an author's public activities or the content of a work. If I'm wrong on this please let me know, I try to respect community rules.
To speak to my view of the ENNIES as someone coming from fairly far outside ENworld - from the OSR blog scene of the 2010's originally ... my general impression has always been that the awards typically include a fairly large share of "big" name products (WotC, Pathfinder, Chaosium, Free League, and such) both nominated and as winners. Of course, until at least 2016 the ENNIES never had much of a footprint in the OSR, so part of this may just be my impression based on limited knowledge of non-OSR/POSR publishers.
However, when I take a look at the winners lists, starting with 2015 I don't see that my impression is especially mistaken. In 2015 the 5E PHB wins best product, and of the 21 non-blog categories ... WotC won 13 (not a surprise really - a big year for 5E). In 2016 WotC wins 2. 2017 they only win 1, but Chaosium cleans up. 2018 its Chaosium again with 5 or so golds. I'm stopping there - because this is the trend. Even 2023, while more varied then 2015, is a lot of Free League and Magpie golds. So yes, the ENNIES have broadened their winner's circle. That's great! Yet a large number of awards still go to the same collection of larger publishers most years - not saying they shouldn't, just that I'm not seeing an "indie" award in this. Perhaps that's just the fate of awards with online submissions? Popular stuff with wide publishing networks, big Kickstarters, and a hearty fanbase does well. Looking over 2024 I do see more variety then I expected, though still a significant presence of larger and mid-range publishers. Again, not a bad thing, and the the ENNIES are changing, seemingly growing and encompassing more variety of work. If the trend continues that's great and I'm happy to have misjudged them.
I'm still never going to be especially swayed by awards. As of now though, the ENNIES continue to have a less "indie" and more "small/midsized press" feel to me. Take last year's big winner - Shadowdark. It's absolutely a post-OSR game built on a B/X foundation (a good one from what I've seen/heard) but it didn't come out of the Post-OSR space. Arcane Library got its start and much of its following from the Dungeon Master's Guild where it published high-quality 5E content. To me it looks like the awards are still peering over the bigger and more popular edges of the indie RPG space.
Again none of this has anything to do with the idea that an award, commercial success, or being a "nice guy" should shield someone or their work from criticism.
