Depends how it's done. Whenever I read about Scottish piping contests I feel a bit uneasy about it. There's something slightly macho about the idea. Music is not sport. It's much more interesting than that. In sport, it's goal-oriented in the most banal way. Score goals=win. In music you can "win" by scoring an "own goal", as it were. There's space for perversity and innovation.

However, there's nothing wrong with competitions per se. People take part in them of their own volition: it's not like anyone's forcing them to. I think hearing an informed assessment from a range of people (judges) with some kind of pedigree is valuable. It's when they start to take on that kind of patriarchal aura, like they really are some kind of authoritative potentate, that it's a bit of a turn-off.