Do I think this happens sometimes? Yes.
Can I prove it? Probably not, and I don't want to spend time on a quest to defame another team.
Do I think most teams or even a significant portion of RCA winners do it? Nope.
But I do see what you're getting at, and when I see certain things I get the feeling that it is happening, and sometimes it does bug me.
This is one of those things, though, where I just do my best to keep my team on the straight and narrow. When I'm helping the kids prepare their essay and presentation (although I'm not the most help on the team by any means
) I act as somewhat of an auditor, making sure we did what we say and more importantly making sure the kids realize what they mean.
We won our first RCA award last year, and it was such an amazing feeling. years of hard work, writing, and presentations finally led to that moment. We felt we had truly earned it. I would never want to cast doubt on or defame another team in that position (and I do understand that you are NOT trying to do that
)
Realistically I'm not sure how much more could be done. At the WI regional this year, 25 teams, which was over half the regional, submitted. This was AWESOME! However, the original presentation scheduled went from right after opening ceremonies Friday to halfway through eliminations on Saturday. Imagine if we got to a point where nearly every team submitted for Chairman's. If a regional average attendance was 50, the number of average applicants would be much above the number we had at WI.