Earlier the difference in ability of people was a concearn to some.
In my personal experience, it doesn't matter as much as we fear...
I was very new when I entered the Ashundar community. My work was very low level. The contest actually helped me to advance my skills. So if you are low level, and you 'loose' or better 'do not win' the contests, it still makes you better, inspires you and gives you training. Eventually you can win, several times.
However, as said, this might not be the place for this. I do think it would be nice to have a thread that summarizes all current competitions on the various sites.
So in one post it could say:
"This week a new contest on Ashundar, themed to a special terrain. On Renderosity themed .. (what ever)..." And this month a new contest opened on Ashundar themed Crashed. Current Monthly on renderosity running 2 weeks themed Sun."
Or something like that...