Pagzz--I think you make a good point that it seems to me (a basically non-appliquer) that all the winning quilts are heavily appliqued! guess quilt judging is like many things--trends come and go.
One thought I had following this thread is that we aren't really separating local smaller guild shows and county fairs from the larger, metro or regional shows and state fairs. the smaller shows typically don't get the number of entries that justify having a wide variety of classes, separating the beginner vs. master, type of piecing, type of quilting. The larger shows do get the number of quilts and often do separate the categories out better.
And the concern that only those quilts that are heavily quilted can win,well, the trend is toward custom quilting--but I've seen some hand quilted entries that are extremely heavily quilted, too.
Frankly, I would like to see my local guild do away with ribbons at our show or just maybe have a vote for "my favorite quilt". It would settle a lot of discussion every year and deal with the "politics" every show regardless of size, seems to encounter.