I've found that many of the books and stories that are nominated for Nebula Awards are ones that I would like, so I do pay attention to those.
The Hugo Awards come behind that, since they tend to reflect popular opinion. (Not that there's anything wrong with popular opinion, mind you, except for mainstream best sellers.)
I've also found books worth reading on the Edgar awards list and the World Fantasy Awards list.
I don't look at awards outside the genre stuff very much, so I'm just the opposite of some of y'all.
I just tend to pick what interests me from non-genre titles.