I'm not sure. I think there are positives and negatives.
+ The good thing is that more people are likely to be interested and want to submit and participate in voting if they have that opportunity. It also allows teams to see what the other teams have submitted and first year teams can learn by observance. Autodesk still chooses the top five, and then leaves it up to the rest of us. The engineers are still involved and so are we.
-The only downside I can think of at the moment, would be Autodesk's involvement. It might seem to some outsiders that they just sit back and wait for all the votes to roll in, announce the winner, and they're done. We know it isn't that way. I also think it might seem unfair to some teams, or individuals. It just depends on personal preference.
Our team does take part in the award, and I personally have no preference; either way works for me.
