To be less of a jerk about stuff (apologies, I was in the midst of stressful/emotional post-con travel), I totally agree with Willow Palecek that smaller contests (including Ronnies, but there’s also been dozens of others over the years, most recently Golden Cobra) often give better feedback — from one or more volunteer judges, usually — and sometimes produce more polished games because designers self-select to be involved in them and they’re not aiming for the broadest possible participation. I’ve had multiple games come out of small contests and have run several myself (Murderland, Stage One, etc.) that have led to some notable games, like Nathan’s Be Ashamed Young Prince. The Indie Mixtape basically works on that model too, kinda. So I totally agree that those are also important to the game design ecosystem and community.