SlickYamaha, I don't think this is getting "political", but the shear number of unsatisfied people should give a hint that this contest was somewhat mismanaged, and a lot comes down to the fact that some rules were not properly communicated, and the inconsistency with which the rules were then followed.
1: I see a lot of people mentioning that one or more of their designs were not included in the voting. It was indeed mentioned in the contest thread that you can submit as many designs as you want, but only one will be selected by the staff for voting purposes, so technically you (you being you and the rest of the PF staff involved in this) are in the right. However, this rule was not mentioned in the first announcement post where the rules were outlined point by point. As you probably know being a forum admin, when it comes to these contests a lot of people only read the rules in the first post and don't try to read though pages of comments to see if other rules are mentioned or not. In that sense, yes, you (again, plural you) are technically in the right, but I think it is very understandable that this would cause strife later on.
2: There also seem to be people who submitted something and none of their designs are in the voting thread. I think here again you are in the right, it was stated clearly in the first announcement post that designs will be vetted before the voting thread. On the other hand, I also see it from their perspective. When you get an email saying something along the lines of "great, your submission is received, thank you so much for the design", then it is very easily misunderstood as meaning that everything is A-OK and the design will be in the voting thread. It is thus a little misleading - especially for non-native English speakers. I think this is mainly a communication issue that could've been solved very easily by sending the outright rejected submissions an email saying so and in a short sentence explaining why. Again, much strife could've been prevented this way.
3: The inconsistency with which rules were mentioned and then followed. As I said before, some rules or other pertinent information were only mentioned well into the comment thread, essentially buried in comments. This is clearly something that will only cause issues later on.
Now on to two issues that I mentioned earlier in this thread but haven't gotten a reply, but I think are relevant in this discussion.
1: This relates to the inconsistency with which rules were followed. While the "vetting" rule was followed to the tee, the rule that the official Pentax brand logo was not to be used seems to have gone to the wayside. It was explicitly and clearly stated in the announcement thread that this logo/font was not to be used, yet designs using this logo/font have been included in the voting thread. You say earlier in this thread that it's OK, because the logo/font can simply be changed for the final shirt. This is unfair for three reasons. First, there were many people I'm sure that changed and/or adjusted their designs, potentially spending a significant amount of time on this, to avoid using that font. Others clearly spent no time doing this, submitted something against the rules and still got through. Second, the font is an essential part of any design. Your claim that it can be simply and quickly by changed after voting is done is correct from a logistics point of view (most likely it is two clicks to change a font type), but I would argue that this significantly changes the final design going to print, and in the end the shirt will look different than what people voted for. Third, having the actual Pentax brand on a design skews the vote. It is well known in advertising that brand recognition is key, and in this case it's the same. People will be affected on an emotional level by seeing the Pentax brand, giving those designs an unfair advantage.
2: The issue with colour schemes. Every individual is supposed to have only one design in the voting thread, yet there are several submissions in the voting thread that are essentially two separate designs because they are different colour schemes of the same basic design (see #s 14, 45, 57, 84, 87, 88, 97). From what I could gather only one actual design will make it through to printing, so which one are we voting for?! For example (not to pick on any in particular, but) #14 there is a design with a white camera and black PF logo, and a black camera with white PF logo. The issue I see is that the former will NOT work on a white shirt, and the latter will NOT work on a black shirt. The others that I mentioned above have similar problems, where different colour schemes don't work on all shirt colours. This is an issue because in the rules it was stated that there will be black, white and (probably) red shirts available, which implies that all designs should work on all three shirt colours. So have things changed, and only one shirt colour is going to be used after all, or will these designs simply not work then? And which of the colour variations are we actually voting for?
As a final note I would like to say this. You essentially said earlier in this thread that all this strife is uncalled for because it's "just" a t-shirt contest, and that we should essentially bow down and be grateful to the organizers no matter what, because they made a lens available to the winner. You also said that maybe in the future these contests should essentially not have winnings because it's too much "politics". Having been a forum mod myself I understand your frustration in light of these "ungrateful" forum users, but frankly, this is very bad logic. The issue is indeed partly that the prize for the contest is not insignificant - for most people this is a HUGE prize to be won. As such, I think the organizers of such a give-away can anticipate fierce competition and high emotions among the contestants. After putting in all the effort to make designs, it then is very flippant to essentially say to the contestants "just suck it up, be grateful for this little t-shirt contest". No, when the stakes are this high (especially because the stakes are this high), I think we can expect a high level of professionalism on the organizers' part. This would include clear rules that are then followed consistently, and professional communication all the way through. All this, of course, does NOT take away anything from how happy the contestants are that the contest is held in the first place, and how grateful we are for the prize on offer, but on the flip side all we ask for is that the contest is held in a professional manner. Yes, this is a little more work for the organizers, but when the stakes are high, I think the organizers also have to put a little more into it, otherwise you will eventually alienate your contestants - and in the end maybe even lose PF members.