Web Design Competitions in Malaysia

I've come across a couple of web design competitions in Malaysia a couple of months back. Being a graphic / web designer myself, I was really tempted to submit an entry for these competitions. Somehow, I hesitated when I realized a couple of things.

By submitting an artwork... "You grant XXXXX and its sponsors an unrevokeable right to reproduce your entry or some part of that entry"... Some of the sponsors are graphic/web design companies. Suspicious.

It does make sense for the company. It is definitely cost effective and faster to have a competition, with the first prize being say RM2000 (second prize gets RM200, and third gets RM20 - thats so bloody ridiculous). Then charge your client, say RM5000 for it. Plus you'll get tons of other entries that you can reuse for future clients and not have a need to hire a web designer. With that pool of resources, you could then lower your fees, which in turn, destroys the market and wonder why local websites suck (of course the good ones will turn to other countries to 'cari makan').

Should give their marketing guys a pat on the back.

An article related (kinda) to this topic I found at Adland.

** I can't deny that by having a competition, it gives students a chance to earn some mullah and make a name for themselves. Maybe the comp should be open only to uni / college students? And probably list down all the designs submitted so people could see if the company ripped off any of the designs?