Perhaps we also need a contest for programmers who write their own 3D software. After all, if you didn't write the code, surely it can't be real art? I mean, obviously, if you're just using your mouse to push around vertices using someone else program...

It really is hard to draw the line. And, I'm not sure it's right to say that one piece of art is more valuable than another, based on how hard it was to make. For example, Pierre-Auguste Renoir made what many people consider to be quite fine art. Unlike many artists before him, he did not commonly grind his own pigments. Should his art be considered of lesser stature because he didn't work as hard as, say, Thomas Gainsborough? It seemes to me that, by the argument presented here, it would.

I don't believe I've ever heard anyone say that using Poser with pre-made models is the same as making the models from scratch. I have heard the opposite, however; many Poser artists have great admiration for the effort that modelers put into their works, and are quite appreciative of the efforts. The fact that a particular contest is open to users of any media doesn't imply otherwise, in my opinion.