Carol, thanks; all good questions.
The jury who will make the final decisions are the Creative Director and Art Director of the design collective. They have a strong background in graphic design, film and media.
The author will of course have consent of the cover design.
What's important to bear in mind is that we are giving away a full custom cover worth a considerable amount of money. This is being done as part of our launch celebration. We're in
beta mode presently, and the website will launch New Year's 2012.
Honestly, throwing a bunch of rules and regulations and making it all more competitive was never the intention. Our goal was to keep things fun and informal.
Ultimately, no one is being "forced to win"! If any of this has been of interest to anyone, you are still welcome to submit.!If not, that's totally okay! We're not exactly dying to design for free
Thanks again, Carol.