On Sat, Jun 12, 2010 at 9:23 AM, Nathan nawrich@gmail.com wrote:
In answer to my own question, the picture contests revolve around featured images - and the featured image requirements include an assessment of value that is based upon several criteria related to the core Commons mission.
There are also other things, like "quality images" http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/COM:QI, which look more at how valuable the image subject is, rather than how good the picture itself is.