Originally posted by AggieDad I think the O.P. was asking about the questionable use of Facebook (he used the term ethics) as a way to determine a contest winner.
In response to that, I would say once you use that method, you no longer have a photo contest - you have a popularity contest, pure and simple. There is no efficacy or rationale when there are no rules or guidelines or objectives to the judging. Both winning or losing are meaningless.
I think all the types of contests have their place.
The Facebook or American Idol style are popularity contests, and to win you'd have to pitch to the mainstream - be crowd pleasing. Steven Soderbergh made the Oceans Eleven series to fund his art projects.
There are art-style competitions where there is a panel of expert judges, like the Golden Globes. You'd have to second guess their biases/philosophies anyway and pitch to them - that's a challenge in itself, and there may be a lot of politics involved.
Somewhere in between are the peer prizes, like the Oscars or the Most Valuable Player award in Australian Rules Football. Again, there would be politicking and personality differences involved.