well they did say from the start that ETC was really the only deciding factor. Votes would influence things but ultimately it was up to whoever they decided best fit what they were looking for, potentially who they thought needed it most, etc... something may have been really popular but not at all what they were looking for.
Agreed, but I can understand it as possibly being due to a perpetual use kind of thing. In the few videos I watched none of the high school kids really showed that their program had anything going past themselves (no teacher, coordinator, interest, etc). While I applaud their dedication and the few videos I saw were great, the long term benefits definitely go to the universities.
An electrician getting a lens stuck in a Source FourPAR reminded me of Fredonia's submission to this contest ETC held back in the fall of 2011. I did a little wandering around YouTube and was able to find a lot of the videos submitted. Couldn't find anything on ETC's site. Here's a link to a YouTube playlist. Here's a link from Live Design about the results of the contest.