Something similar happened to me too. So there was an art competition in my art class that lasted a week. Keep in mind that the class was for 6-10year-olds. In my opinion- my art was at a very high level- higher than everyone in my class just because I started art at an earlier age and had good control with pencils/pens. My art teacher would also recommend that I go sit and watch the older kids for inspiration.
So, back to the art competition- The theme was winter. I was absent on the first day- so I worked on it the second day, in class. I decided to do a watercolour painting of a girl ice-skating. I wasn't good at drawing people so I would keep it simple and cartoonish. Everyone kept giving me compliments and everything.
Then the day came. My art teacher told us that we could vote for 3 people each. Some people were being bias- ya' know like just picking their friends only. It didn't bother me since, there wasn't even like a prize to win anyway. And if I had friends, I'd probably vote for them too.
I walked around the room and picked a snowflake drawing and a still life of a snowman (I think). I can't remember the highest amount of votes- but I got the second amount (10 votes.) Apparently votes didn't matter. My teacher was picking the winner herself. Saying that she's giving us a score on 5 different things. (I don't remember all of them). Keep in mind that she said that on the first day- when I was absent. I was the only one who actually spent time on it. Then she picked the girl with the least amount of votes (2 votes).
She didn't even acknowledge me because
- I used ENGLISH words which said "1992 Olympics Russia"
- the other kids only spoke Russian
A year after that, my artwork faded away- and was worth nothing.
(Sorry for the long story)