As much as I love my already owned star reading hat and the doggo officer hat, they are recycled from boxes!! It is not special
I don't know about others but to make art, I spend a lot of time and a few bucks on the process. There were never contests from Dawnte & Myz or officially from WP that I'm not excited about, but prizes are now from recycled boxes - really?
Years before prizes were absolutely amazing. If I ROPD some of the famous winners from previous contests my jaw drops. Why can't you guys recycle the prize of the limited hats you guys gave before then? Then this way more people can have access to own them.
I think they could recycle old headgears, but duno how the playerbase would react. Would they complain it isn't NEW? Would they complain if it is not a Costume? (Older headgears might lack a Costume version)
Also, if in your opinion the prize is not special, simply don't participate. Or in this particular contest, go for a different category that needs less resources or a category you never tried before, it could be fun trying something new.