Nested Attributes Link / Save to An Existing Record

Happy Monday Everyone, Would you kindly help out a struggling nuby in solving this problem? I have been researching all over, yet to find a workable solution.

Situation: A model [Announcement] that accepts nested attributes [Recipients] via many_to_many :through => :awards relationship.

The Desired Outcome: #1. If a recipient's email in the announcement form is not found in the existing recipients' data, then a new recipient is created. #2. If a recipient's email is already in the database, then simply add award to their existing award profile without creating a new recipient.id

My Struggle: The desired outcome #1 is satisfied w/ the current code. However when a recipient's email is already in the database, this error shown up "Recipient email already existed" - preventing saving into their award record. What should I do so that the desired outcome #2 can be met?

See detailed code here: http://pastie.org/2062009

Many thanks in advance, Linda