Sorry for not responding sooner. Yes, Bryce put forth the most compelling reason/tradition. One more would be that it gives us incentive to get the pre#-builds started sooner rather than later so we can keep up some momentum. The contest doesn't serve to keep momentum as it's really separate from development and has a fixed timeframe that is easier to control.
As Bryce mentioned, we still have a few of things that ought to be updated or at least looked at first. I will also say that if some of the newer LPEs making their way into the Experimental branch are deemed to be ones we will end up shipping with, I would recommend we consider getting them into trunk to ship the builds with those to have for the contest.
One side task for the contest is that we should come up with a theme or concept. People don't need to adhere to the theme with their submissions, but it's always interesting to see what people come up with when they do. Given the amount of time between major releases I think something along the lines of "shedding skin" (like a snake or cicada), I don't know, something "transformative". Any suggestions anyone?
Cheers,
Josh