participation payment!

I've been trying this other designcontest like website and I found that it has a participation payment option. Basically its like, at the choice of the contest holder, a participation payment is awarded to the first <number chosen by contest holder> designs. I imagine this can possibly be quite counter productive, as designers might submit entries just for the sake of the participation prize. But on the other hand, it's also quite frustrating to pour so much work into a design and not get anything just because it just didn't turn out to be the best entry according to the CH. Survival of the fittest.