We would not be human if we didn't let personal taste influence our judging of not only our own work but other people's as well.
I have a friend who is a certifided judge by the NQA. She judges at most of the county fairs etc. within 100 or so miles of our area. I hate to show her my work because she nit picks it to death. Her personal taste in quilting runs to Thimble Berry, browns, dark reds etc. For many years she was a professional hand and machine quilter before the longarmers priced us out of the market. She once handquilted a quilt that won a big prize at a competion. The owner of the quilt failed to mention that she had paid my friend to do the quilting. While a little of the prize money would have been nice my friend was mostly interested in at least getting credit for her quilting skills, which were remarkable.
According to her training she says that judges look at the workmanship, binding, points etc. as well as the amount of quilting, embellisment etc. The color and design are secondary. I think the whole idea of judging quilting was started to improve the skills of the quilters.