Luckily my synopsis win took away the sting of not making it past round 1 of the Emerald - category. I seemed to have polarised the judges again with quite varied scores. But that is the nature of contests, it all depends on who reads the entry - much like when you submit it's all in the eyes of the beholder.
Contests are more than a way to get anonymous feedback on your writing, it really does prepare you for the big scary world of submissions. Just gotta nail 'right desk, right time'.
Is that how everyone else sees contests? Or do you get torn everytime an entry comes back with a low score or harsh comment?