I've been working for weeks to finish some quilts to enter in the Grayson County, Texas, fair. I am a basic non-competitor who enters things in the fair so people will know quilting, embroidery, home canning, baking, home garment sewing, photography, folk art, etc.-- mostly for joy and hardly ever for profit--are alive an well in our community. It's just fun to see the "stuff" that other people in the community create and it gives all the rest of us lots of good ideas.
As for judging, back in the days when I kept bees in far West Texas, the bee keepers association wanted to encourage backyard beekeepers and since we didn't have enough members to make much of a showing, several of us entered our honey using the names of our dogs. The dogs' honey won ribbons several times. I'm sure the judges would have been embarrassed had they known they had been flim flammed, but several people who didn't know you could keep bees in your backyard got into it after seeing the large number of entries and after that, we had enough entries to retire our canine beekeepers. I wish people would stop acting as if things that ought to be fun are things that are deadly serious.. froggyintexas