301 points! and could have done more

[AaronEllsworth]

Originally Posted by jspatz1

In an amatuer sport or competition, if the offer of a monetary reward causes you to play any differently than you otherwise would, then that is wrong. It is that simple. Any other details of the story are just rationalizations.

That is true if the offer is secret, or to limited participants, but in this case it was very publically announced at the beginning of the competition, and became part of the ground rules. Now perhaps since this regional competition is also part of a national competition, that might be a problem. That’s an issue for the people in charge.
I can’t speak for Mr. Sanghi, but I’m sure the challenge was issued to elevate the game play, and I’m sure he wasn’t intending that a no-defense strategy would be necessary to meet the challenge, and still it wasn’t met.