I don't know how many times you have entered this contest Chad, but if you have fished a few you would come to feel that this is your contest, which in a way it is. Several years ago the organisers of this contest gave all participants a questionnaire to fill out to see how the Contest could be best formatted and what we have now, is more or less what the participants came up with back then. That's what probably prompted snappyboy's reaction to your 1/8/14 post as he probably had some input into this contest like the rest of us.

As far as the money goes it is not cheap to run a contest nowadays, I have organised and run a number of contests at a club level, a 7am to 3pm one day contest so I know the costs of doing that, extend those costs into a 4/5 day contest and you are up for some serious coin. On top of that, this contest is a commercial venture, so you don't have a pool of club people to volunteer, just about everyone has to be paid something. The cash prize money of almost $70,000 that is paid out,(probably one of the best return rates of any surf fishing contest in New Zealand)and of course the organisers will want to make a profit, I understand that it takes nearly 40 weeks of the year to organise and run this contest and for those weeks put in I would certainly want something out of it. So Chad, I would say that is where the vast majority of the money goes.

Surely if they didn't buy a $40,000 truck it won't kill the comp, you are probably right Chad, but it would probably do some serious harm in lost ticket sales I believe, I have travelled to this comp for 14 years,and each year there is a thought in the back of my mind, that I could leave this contest with the keys to a new vehicle(and I don't even have to catch one fish to be in to win it).
For what it costs me to go to the contest would I still go if that lure was taken away,at the time of writing this, I am not sure, would those contestants who come from Australia, England, South Africa who set a holiday time in New Zealand to coincide with this contest would they still enter who knows. I am sure there are a number of people who have entered this contest with not a lot of intention of actually going fishing but in the hope of getting called up on the stage for the vehicle draw, you can spot them in the crowd.
You lose 80 to 100 tickets this way, it is going to have an impact on other facets of the contest.
But in any event all going well and the contest is on in 2015 without too many changes, it would be great to see you on stage next to snappyboy and me holding some good snapper