"The Contest" is considered one of the best "Seinfeld" episodes, winning several awards and positive reviews from the critics. Many of the reviews were towards the episode's writing. David won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing in a Comedy Series for the episode. He also won a Writers Guild of America Award for his work on the episode. Director Tom Cherones won a Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy Series for this episode. He was also nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Directing. "TV Guide" ranked the episode #1 on its list of "TV's Top 100 Episodes of All Time".