The prof. singer who was clearly the best was not even in the top 5, while the girls with 100 cheerleaders were 1, 2 respectively, and sang OK. After the contest I noticed one of the girls speaking to a judge, clearly they knew him.

The winner(s) have already been decided.

I stopped doing karaoke contests years ago when a friend of mine, Brian was hosting a big contest in Fl. There happened to be a prof. female singer in the contest, among 20, also up against a couple of girls who brought 100 guests to cheer. They paid back several places, total maybe 20 in the contest. The prof. singer who was clearly the best was not even in the top 5, while the girls with 100 cheerleaders were 1, 2 respectively, and sang OK. After the contest I noticed one of the girls speaking to a judge, clearly they knew him. This didn't sit well with Brian who called the prof. singer later and apologized, never hosted a contest again. Bars, clubs, etc. use these contests to bring in patrons, singers etc. and that's OK. Just be aware of what it is, most contests don't use prof. singers or people in the music business as judges. Use the contest for experience, have fun, nothing more or nothing less. In my own case, I was a certified Miss America Judge, as well as a trained operatic singer doing Groban, Tom Jones, etc. and would never get in these contests, unless there were independent out of town judges with a music background. Good Luck.

I wish you'd quit saying that Alan. It's simply NOT TRUE. And frankly, I take it as a personal affront since I've been running singing contests for over a dozen years. I would walk away from them if I felt they were "fixed" in any way, shape or form. Just because YOU may have had bad experiences with contests, doesn't mean everyone will. The contest the OP mentions may indeed be tainted, but neither you nor I know that for a fact.

I'm sorry Earl but it IS true. Maybe not in your case, or in Lonnie's case, or in Danny's case. As I have said before, there are exceptions and some contests are actually run fairly. But the good majority of them are not. And those are the facts.

In my 25 years of doing this, I have never seen a contest that was run and or judged fairly. I can write a book based on what singers (who have shared their experience) have told me. And from what I've seen for myself.

Nothing to take personally, Earl. You should be proud that your contests are in the 1% that are considered good. But I stand by everything I've said and will always discourage anyone from entering a contest.

That forum provided her the responses she was looking for, and didn't delve into how much people hated contests.