Might as well throw my thoughts into this one. I feel all entries should be anonymous and entries not allowed to be posted to personal galleries until after the competition has ended. That way any entries will be judged on the image alone which to way is the only fair way to do things.
I know this wouldn't stop friends voting for each other as they could simply site mail or email each other, but that would be a bit sad wouldn't it. Surely they would rather win on merit rather than the number of votes they can solicit.
At the end of the day it's only a competition and surely there must be more important things to worry about.
Tony :-)