We tend to give people a couple of months to get their entries in. The deadline is only so we know when to start judging! 24 hour RPGs can be made at any time.
I don't feel qualified to judge as I haven't entered it yet. I will be a participant this time. Although I don't think I should be eligible for the cash.
If I got the certificate, I'd just use it to buy games, and since the whole contest is about free ones - it would be redundant for me to enter. Slow and ocasionaly overzelous my methods might be, I'll help rank entires. Hopefully I won't have so many unfortunate distractions this time.
And I already think "Angels vs robts" is going to be one of my unjudged attempts.
Games of imagination are never truly done. Yet tomorrow we shall start another one.