The best icons almost never win icon challenges. People tend to gravitate towards either really simple stuff, or really tacky stuff. (I used to never win them. Then I opened up a sock, copied the style of the stuff that generally won, and I started winning all of them. I don't still do that, I was just curious.) It's not that you're not good enough, it's that you have a specific style and it's not the style that wins the contest.

I'd much rather see my icons used than win those crap challenges.