I have not kept up with this conversation, but did have some thoughts on this since reading the first couple pages awhile back. Forgive me if this idea has already been brought up.
What about two classes of BOM contest, a Professional and an Amateur? The idea being that those who have already won their share, would not feel obligated to step back from the contest, and those that are new to bow-making would not face daunting competition and would be more likely to enter. We would have to self determine whether or not we are amateur or professional, but I would suggest that a guiding criteria could be around making bows for sale, or if we needed a harder line, we could use criteria of have you been invited to the PA invitational bow trade. I imagine that it would sort out pretty well though just letting folks just decide for themselves.
The drawbacks of this would be that it would require some more work from the folks that are doing all of the work to make BOM contest happen, and of course, if it does not lead to more entries, then we would have even less entries per category.
I personally love the BOM contest. That really set the hook for me when I opened up my first copy of PA magazine. Thanks to all of those that help make it happen.
I also like Simson's idea of a pin.