LFGSS 2013 T-shirts (may even be ready in 2012)

If they are good enough to enter, they should be paid. This is exactly what is wrong with people doing competitions for design - no value on the work created.

In fact, no personal malice intended, but your whole post is a joke. I know this isn't a real project, but the idea that you would get any sort of quality from such a cheap trick is a joke. Would you go to a 3 different bike shops, get them each to fix your bike, and then say,
?

I think you've completely misunderstood what I was proposing and taken the first sentence wholly out of the context of the paragraph.

I'm aware that design comps often don't attract entrants from professional designers and artists because they can't guarantee that they'll get paid for their hard work. Thus the suggestion of opening up to submissions from professional portfolios, where they don't have to expend what is basically valuable time for them on the design at the beginning. This would allow them to be judged on style and, where possible, interpretation of content.
However, I'm also aware of the equal disconnect that amateur artists/designers, without and established portfolio, might be able to come up with something of equally high quality in a combination of style and content that would capture the interest of the forum and commissioning established/professional artists/designers excludes their contribution. Therefore offering them the opportunity to make an artistic submission.

Yes, you're absolutely right, if people are good enough to enter they should be paid. But I don't think that should be the sole reserve of professionals This is why I then proposed that once the submission phase is over artists of either stripe then get commissioned and paid for that work, both for the creation of the design and on a royalty basis. The first element compensating them for their time and the second encouraging commitment and higher quality in the work. If anything I was trying to work around the issue of comps not placing value on the work created and recognised that as an issue.

Also, I don't really think your allegory correlates at all. It would be more accurate to say that you've got three bikes that need fixing, canvassing opinion on the three best bike shops and amateur mechanics to do the work, paying all three for the fine job that they've done and then paying them a bit more for every week that the quality of the repair work keeps that bike on the road. I'm not sure how you interpreted from my post why only one of the three successful artists would be getting paid.