First, let me say that I've enjoyed every challenge I've entered, and have refined some skills in the process, I do however have one big problem with the challenges, that being the lack of feedback with the final entries. I don't really care about the prize (although I think it is a very generous prize for an internet competition), I care more about getting critiques from people who are working in the business. If someone spends 2 months working on a project to submit for critique, it would be nice to get some feedback, whether they win or not. Like you said Mike, there's really not too many entries each month, so would it hurt to say a few lines/give some critism on every entry? Maybe suggest some improvements that could have been made etc..

It just seems like the competition ends, and there's a one-line post saying ".... is the winner," with no explanation as to what it was about that image that stood out among the rest. A few months back you did a "photorealistic" challenge, in which I saw some awesome work from a few people, but there was little or no feedback on the final entries. I looked through the thread of the guy who won (he modeled an excellent video camera), and there was just a handful of posts, with only about 3 or 4 work-in-progress shots, and then a final render entry.

I just think it would benefit everyone more if the challenges were geared towards helping people improve, rather than just handing out a prize.