Ok, time to wrap up this thread.
We had our homebrewers meeting last night and went over the general format. Being the first competition there was input from members to change up the competition a little bit in order to make it a little more anonymous for the judges... IE they wouldn't have to vote IN FRONT of each brewer allowing for a more realistic count. It will still be a popularity contest in the future but everyone knows that before entering.
As far as the winning beer goes, the homebrewers that had entered AND sampled said it was a deserving win.
The rest of the feedback for the contestants seemed to be vague at best. There were a few good tips and general feedback on the beers but not many. In the future they are aiming to have judges provide more useful feedback for the brewers.
Things are moving in the right direction!
D3