Spirit awards are a very fishy business. They tend to charge high entry fees and give out lots of participation trophies. Something that sounds prestigious like a "double silver" probably means that it didn't taste quite as bad as rancid cat pee.

Perhaps. There's also just difference tastes, some people prefer different types of wines (e.g. a blend containing more merlot, etc).

That said, I can tell for a fact price often does not matter past a certain point -- it definitely isn't a good way to determine quality. I have had great bottles that sell for $15, and (not horrible but) not special ones that sell for $50 or $100. There are plenty of good $15 wines and plenty of bad ones. Same applies to the higher priced ones as well.

Often it's hit and miss, and you need to do your research! (Which isn't necessarily a bad thing)

I have found some pretty good wine from Australia that is only about seven dollars a bottle. Merlots and Cab Sav are my favorites. I got a bottle of Merlot from Portugal for so little I thought it would have tasted terrible but in fact, it was great. Now, I am not a wine professional by any stretch of the imagination but I think you can find some great wine for ten dollars or less.

Just don't buy a bottle based on how the bottle looks.