DD -- I agree that writing for the judges is a clumsy construction. I think most writers -- the ones you mentioned, the ones you didn't -- write for themselves.
Just as you said.
I don't know an artful way to say it, or write it, I guess. I just think that ESPN knew what they were getting when they hired The Jones and they knew it wasn't going to be conventional sportswriting.
That it was a literary leap of faith that the editors hope will result in new readers and, perhaps, positive press from the literary types.
I didn't mean to imply that The Jones was writing to get awards, my intent was that the editors hired Jones in hopes of getting their magazine literary recognition.