[keiferski]

Unfortunately a lot of contests etc. are anti-AI usage without having a formal system for detecting it. In practice that means anyone using a lot of em-dashes will be flagged by a reviewer as AI-likely.

[iamdamian]

I would say that using a lot of em-dashes was always bad writing. You want to use them sparingly if you want them to have impact.

That said, yes, keep using them (and using them well!).

[iansteyn]

This is true. I actually originally started using em-dashes because a high school english teacher called out my overuse of regular dashes (where they technically should have been em-dashes, but he didn’t know that) in the place of other types of transitions… which prompted me to research the punctuation properly and consider other ways to transition thoughts too.

[jasonvorhe]

Then these contests are run by lazy people and they aren't worth the effort of submitting your work to.