i don't feel your analogy works at all. if only 1 out of 20 designers (i'm just guessing at the average number of submitted concepts per contest) are getting pa

i don't feel your analogy works at all. if only 1 out of 20 designers (i'm just guessing at the average number of submitted concepts per contest) are getting paid for their work they are submitting, then 19 are losing out: it's called spec work. cheap is not spec.