Of course, no one can say what the 2009 rules would be, but I would suggest reading the 2008 award requirements at
http://www.usfirst.org/uploadedFiles...rds%20RevC.pdf
You will see that there is no "CAD" award, there is an Autodesk Visualization Award (AVA) and an Autodesk Inventor Award. The AVA must be made with Autodesk 3ds Max (although you could import Solidworks or Pro/E models into 3ds Max), and the Autodesk Inventor award must be made in Inventor (hence the name of the award).
However, if you do an awsome CAD model of your robot in Pro/E or SolidWorks, that can help you to win other awards such as the Delphi “Driving Tomorrow’s Technology” award, General Motors Industrial Design award, Imagery award, Judges' award, Motorola Quality award, or the Xerox Creativity award. Of course, in these cases, your robot has to live up to your CAD design.