I just wanted to point out, that:
A) I haven't been in a contest, and I probably never will.
B) From the sounds of it, and I have seen it, stores in Vancouver alone fluctuate a lot in price ( go compare J&L vs. Aquariums West ). If you go to the interior, or even more, somewhere in manitoba, your stuff is going to cost you more, 100% guaranteed, so having a flexible system for money ( such as the point system ) makes things a bit more fair.
C) Make the focus again, less on value, and more on creative things such as: aquascaping, flora/fauna combinations, hardware setups.
From what it sounds like, the majority of arguments come from discussions associated with budgets. If the focus is changed from this being the key element that drives the contest, we'll be seeing far more interesting results.
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