I'm just pointing out the facts. Judging model entries by looking at photos and not looking at the actual model is a tricky business, and the fact that the photos would vary greatly in quality makes it inherently unfair. Like I said before, judging models when they're all sitting side by side and you can actually see them is one thing; how do you fairly judge a terrific, sharp, well-lit and well-composed photo of one model vs. a dark, blurry cell-phone shot of another model sitting on a cluttered workbench? Gustavson's contest was a little different... he was judging the designs and the customization ideas and commenting on how successful the design concept was, not necessarily the quality of the workmanship. He was judging concept more than execution.
Also... with all the thin-skinned, easily offended types we seem to have here, the whole idea sounds like a potential can of worms with hurt feelings, bruised egos, "I can't believe that model won" types of posts, and so on. Believe me... I deal with you guys every day... I can see it happening.
That being said, if there's enough interest from you guys and you really want to give it a shot, I wouldn't try and stop you... and I think (but can't speak for him) that Gregg would be ok with it. I don't know. Maybe we need to kick the idea around a bit and get more feedback.