Some people are really into competitions and some, like me, are not. I am entering a non-tested brew in a comp that will be judged in October, this will be my 1st comp as well. My thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/claymore-252741/ It is for my homebrew club and that is the ONLY reason I am entering. I do not need a ribbon, trophy or piece of paper to enhance the beers flavor. 
I do however like honest, helpful and technical criticisms and a contest is the best way to get that.
The only advise I can give you on the "young beer" issue is do not bottle carb/condition it, Force carb it! You can use one of these: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/miller-lite-home-draft-dissected-181602/ to force carb half the batch and then bottle it as late as possible. It takes 2 cartridge to do it, 1 to carb it and 1 to serve, so it is not a super cheap way to do constantly but it does work just fine. You could also bottle condition the other 1/2 of the batch and see which one you like best before dropping off the entry.
I wish you the best of luck either way!
I do however like honest, helpful and technical criticisms and a contest is the best way to get that.The only advise I can give you on the "young beer" issue is do not bottle carb/condition it, Force carb it! You can use one of these: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/miller-lite-home-draft-dissected-181602/ to force carb half the batch and then bottle it as late as possible. It takes 2 cartridge to do it, 1 to carb it and 1 to serve, so it is not a super cheap way to do constantly but it does work just fine. You could also bottle condition the other 1/2 of the batch and see which one you like best before dropping off the entry.
I wish you the best of luck either way!
